Hellsing: Retribution
by sunkissedvampire
Summary: The legacy of defeat by a weak creature such as man, to hide in the shadows while the world slowly rots and men waste away in front of their screens. There is no grandeur left here: no opulent wars, no honor in death, no secrets or darkness to discover. It has all been fought, killed, and seen by us and our enemies. This world is dead. A new one must be created in its place.
1. The Death that Shook the World

A/N: So this is a story that came to mind after I had visited St. Augustine, a city that I quickly fell in love with, and I had to follow through. This is the work of three minds, not just me, and it took a lot of planning and discussion to get it as far as it has. It is pretty obvious where it begins, and will become more apparent the further along we go.

"Dracula is dead."

Those three words echoed across the cavernous basement. It was made of stone, supported by rows of pillars, and filled with nothing but the light of one flickering candle and a deep baritone voice. The basement was a work of magic, while it did have wonderful acoustics that sent the creatures voice spilling out across the room like gentle waves, it also should not have existed. The building it resided under was tall, three and in some places four stories high, and spanned across a few acers of land. It was an excellent work of Spanish Victorian architecture, with high domed ceilings and plenty of alcoves and outdoor walkways, and in the center courtyard a large fountain sat. A clock tower stood above it all and every hour it chimed a complicated tune that was equal parts joyous and sad. While this building, this estate, had once been a hotel visited by only the handfuls of the rich nobles that could afford it, it was now used as an institute of education. A College if you will. And several hundred pairs of feet tromped through it during the day and few scampered about during the night. While the building was beautiful and prosperous it by no means should have had a basement. You see, this was Flaggler College, a historic building designed and built in the Victorian era, and it rested in the very northern east corner of Florida. Any basement generally built in Florida was either very small, barely reached seven feet in height, or it simply did not last long due to the limestone foundation and streams of underground waterways that made up the undergrounds of Florida.

A fifteen foot tall room spanning the entire length of the college would not have lasted long and would have caused the entire building itself to collapse overt time.

Yet there it was.

"Sir?"

A new voice joined the baritone. It was not as deep but still obviously male and had a curious lilt to its voice. It spoke of years of education and history, of a time long since passed, as all the true Nosferatu's voices did.

"The No-Life King has finally fallen," the baritone replied.

"That is impossible . . ."

The room, already darkened by natural shadows, now became cold and a rising distress built within the walls emanating from the softer of the two. But soon, his own distress was only one of the many that spanned the globe. Across the world, in dungeons and castles, penthouses and grand suits, cottages and mountains, any place that spoke of power and time, any place that radiated the untouchable aura of the monsters that once roamed the Earth and struck fear within the hearts of men, a multitude of emotions burst into life and swirled through the atmosphere. Creatures who had held onto the past with all their might, fingers grasping the edge of the cliff, grip slowly slipping, knuckles white with strain, wailed in grief. They had lived so long, known what it was like to watch as their stories traveled and affected the men of this world, known what it was like when just their name was enough to send entire armies into retreat, known what the world had been so long ago – still so new and at the same time ancient, filled with mystery and wonder, when there was more worth in dying a valiant death than succeeding in a company- and the last vestige of it all . . . had finally passed. The one they had looked to, the one meant to uphold the past, all their traditions, their legacies, had been extinguished. His very life had been a tribute to the magnificence that had come and gone, he had breathed the very essence of creation and destruction into the world with every glorious laugh, men marched to battle under his command with swords and even as time passed and humans dropped their blades in favor of guns his mere presence enough to reawaken the instinct to go to war with nothing but their own bare hands, his posture had been that of true nobility not seen since men had industrialized, every aspect of him had been nothing but the beauty of ages passed, and it had all been bottled up within him and released into the air with his death to disperse and vanish like so much ash. The era of romanticism had died. And now all that was left was a world already scoured by humanity, no stone left unturned, and bare of all its previous secrets. Humans had already begun to fall into a mindless boredom that could only be sated by instantaneous information and pleasure, leaving them as nothing but absent vegetables, no longer interested in what the Earth had to offer them. Everything would slowly dwindle and die like a dry and drawn out epilogue to an epic to glorious to end. And the old bloods would be forced to whether it all, despairing at once was, and wishing for the past to return or, for it all to end.

"This is what I have been waiting for," the deeper of the two voices, belonging to an intimidating figure clad in a cloak of darkness. It hid the details of his person from view but did not diminish his imposing figure in the least. Dark hair spilled out over his shoulders, over his face, and cascaded down his back and his eye peeked out between the strands. Twin specks of pure ice took in the dark room thoughtfully before turning to the other occupant.

"What do you mean?" the other asked. He was shorter by a few inches and had neatly combed brown locks that did not hide his blood red gaze from the world. It was brushed back against his scalp in a rather old fashioned manner. He himself wore a three piece suit of black and white. His brows crashed together in confusion, still distraught over the aching emptiness within his chest, as he watched the other chuckle and turn away to step further into the darkness, away from the flickering candlelight.

"My dear friend, now that he is out of the way, we can begin rebuilding," he crooned.

"Rebuilding?" he scowled.

"Yes," the man turned to look over his shoulder, blue eyes gleaming in the darkness, "His Empire that fell so long ago . . ."


	2. Where are you?

This is how an angel dies. It is not a simple act of dying, breathing your last breath, and saying your goodbyes. There would be no funeral where loved ones came to mourn the passing of a great friend. Nor would there be flowers to rest on a tombstone. The death of a creature made of light and all things pure known to none but the highest of beings would go unnoticed like the melting of a singular snowflake in the blizzard of humanity. While the world raced ever forward, constantly changing, adapting, learning, understanding life in such a dismal fashion that the romanticism of the past has been all but forgotten. Where there is no mystery, wonder, or magic left. When the world has fallen prey to technology and greed. When immortal monsters walk the streets in search of their one true desire – death – loath to exist in a world where not even their legends survive . . . the ending of an angel's life would truly go unnoticed.

No, an angel dies when a person – human or otherwise – is forced to kill itself. Not by lifting a gun to its head, slitting its throat, or swallowing a handful of pills. But by destroying every iota of its make-up. Everything that makes it what it is. Every thought, emotion, memory, every reaction and instinct that lengthened its survival, and every gentle inclination that may have once convinced someone of its humanity.

Yes, humanity, something that he had long since left behind.

His existence had become nothing but the next battle. The next meal. The next splatter of blood across his cheek that he gleefully licked away. And he didn't mind. After all, it was good entertainment. A decent way to pass the time – the eternity that ticked away on an infinite clock – that seemed never ending. The world had become rather boring during his existence. He had once stood upon the mountains of his enemy's mutilated corpses laughing like a madman, delighted by the bloodshed, and watching his legacy bound across the lands and into the homes of all who lived. He was the monster under the bed, the beast in the woods, and murderer around the corner of every street. He was a King! He waged war and reaped the rewards!

But it had all come crumbling down.

He learned quickly that the world was ever changing. That nothing could last. That no matter how many wars you won, how many men you impaled and posted at your doorstep, time would take its toll. His legacy disintegrated in the wind like so much ash and dust and he was loath to look away. It was a sort of morbid curiosity that forced him to watch as the world moved on and his name was left to gather dust, pushed back into the attic, and forgotten like so many legends before him.

The world was different now.

An anger had begun to boil deep within him. While he sat stagnant within his hallowed halls he began to plot.

And his plan would have succeeded because in the end, all those forced to weather the ages wish for nothing but eternal sleep, to forget – and at the same to remember – what once was.

But that man had not been able to kill him. He had stood over him with a wooden stake in hand. Delivered the death blow! But no everlasting darkness came to him. No. The only thing that awaited him was an eternity of servitude for his sins. How quaint.

The sound of splintering bone and tearing flesh echoed across the void of darkness. One body fell. One soul amongst the masses that surrounded him. Patiently waiting for their turn. They stretched as far as his inhuman eyes could see. And then some. They made no sound, only watched on as he slaughtered one after the other, their vacant eyes glowing in the darkness, long since losing the spark of life that had defined them as individuals. How irritating.

With each souls destruction he felt himself grow a fraction weaker, a little less determined, and he realized that the closer he got to his eventual return, the harder it would be. He had been tempted to give up, to remain lost within himself and wonder through the millions of gathered souls within him, revisiting the past and reminiscing on better times. But then he recalled that, with the exception of a few bright moments within the first few years of his life, it was all the same. Dark, bloody, and boring. If his existence was to continue despite his best efforts than he would rather return to the light of the moon and the stars and the sweet smell of gunpowder. Why bother watching the reruns of an already tired drama? Wallowing in the past? How pathetic.

He called himself a king, but that was only ever a reference to the past, he hardly thought himself the ruler of anyone these days. Even when his reign of terror was brought to an end he had only been ruling over a small gaggle of Romani, gypsies, that had reveled in his history and feared him. Not known him as the noble that he truly had been. And most recently, he had been the servant to a volatile woman bent on ridding the world of every last vestige of supernatural existence, sending him out into the night as if he were little more than an attack dog. With a little fledgling at his side no less. He had spent his days indulging in thought broken by rare moments of violence and bloodshed. He had tasted war again for the first time in centuries though and he had never felt more alive. But even his nemesis was not able to end his pitiful existence. How disgusting.

How infuriating.

How frustrating.

How absurd.

How . . . tiring.

Each question of how was punctuated by his hand, squelching through the chest cavity of another soul. His calm and serene expression morphed into one of manic rage.

His red eyes, glowing with malice and vindictive determination, lifted to the void above. As if he were looking at God himself – the monster laughed.

"Do you think this will stop me?"

The deep baritone rolled across the plans of shuffling, rotting souls, and soothed them all the while he continued to plow through them. One after the other. And the angel died for a third time.

* * *

"What's troubling you?"

"I've been thinking about the past recently."

"The past?"

"Yes . . . I miss them."

Sir Integra Fairbrooke Wingates Hellsing scowled at the woman sitting across from her at the small outdoor café table. It was early in the day, the sky overcast and grey, yet the small blond still wore a black duster and wide brimmed fedora to hide from the light. Around them civilians walked the streets, chattering and laughing, passing by with not a care in the world. Unbeknownst to them the small blond that men leered at and women stuck their noses up at, was in fact, a vampire. Integra bit down at the end of the cigar perched between her lips and sighed through her nose. The girl's emotions were constantly fluctuating to the point that she had grown rather depressed the past few years. She was weighed down by guilt and nostalgia, a weird combination of sadness and hope for the future, and if she was correct, also a yearning for her master who had yet to return. The manor had grown so quiet and peaceful, the men were a rambunctious lot and caused enough trouble, but the lack of his dark presence, his laughter and thirst for relief of his boredom, was so noticeable that it had been quite discerning for a time. They never grew out of the habit of expecting him to pop up around any corner, to stroll into whatever room they occupied, or to be found lounging in a chair napping.

"I thought you were done with this," Integra said, removing her cigar to casually take a sip of the coffee steaming in front of her. No creamer, just sugar swirled within its black depths. She set the cup back down on the wrought iron table as gently as she could before carefully lifting her gaze to the vampire.

"I thought so too," Seras admitted gloomily, "But I keep running across things, things that don't really seem all that important, and it makes me recall the past." She thought of the new butler and how efficient he was, yet every time she witnessed him working she could not help but think 'Walter would have done that better' or 'Walter would have known'. She let out a sigh and turned her gaze on Integra, red eyes hidden behind sunglasses. The woman had picked up the newspaper and was halfheartedly skimming through it, studiously ignoring Seras, she had always been awkward when it came to the more emotional stuff. Seras smiled in tired amusement.

They had taken to visiting several cafes in the freshly rebuilt London over the years. It had been eighteen years since the attack and progress was coming along nicely. Integra claimed it was purely for observational reasons but Seras knew it had more to do with her need to fill the void left behind by Walter than her need to watch as the city rebuilt itself. Integra and Seras had grown closer over the years, relying on each other after the London Blitz, and the Draculina had been overjoyed by the first invitation to join her out to a café. The sun did not bother her as much as it once had but she still preferred to keep herself covered up. Her sleeping schedule had been shot to all hell with their outings but she did not mind. She was already up for most hours of the day anyways, training the men and helping Integra with the upkeep of the house, so waking up an extra few hours early was not much of a bother to her. Sometimes she felt a little off, a little sick, but after a glass of blood she felt right as rain again. She wouldn't miss out on a chance to spend some extra time with one of her very few friends.

She eyed Integra's silver hair thoughtfully but did not let her sadness show on her face. She was so much more emotional since becoming a vampire. The happiness and excitement, boredom, love . . . those were all the same but the sadness, the anger, when she felt those she was completely overcome by them. And she found herself feeling quite sad as she watched Integra age right before her eyes while she stayed as young as ever. Sometimes she worried that her Master would never return and she would be left on her own, doomed to watch her loved ones wither away over and over again. That was the curse of immortality. Other times she wondered what her master would do if he did return in time for Integra's death. She had had no children, there would no longer be Hellsing blood leading the organization, would he even stay? She highly doubted it.

"None of that now," Integra voiced calmly, slicing through the cloud of negative thoughts that she could see slowly drowning the poor woman.

"Yes Sir," Seras chirped, sitting a bit straighter in her seat and forcing a smile.

"Now tell me about the new recruits. You said there was a rather promising fellow among them?" Integra ordered. She returned her eyes to the paper, half listening to the vampire as she rambled on about the new men, and let out a quiet sigh. Originally she had been worried about the state of the world when Alucard disappeared, how would they destroy other vampires without him? But as time passed and Hellsing grew stronger, and the world braver, she began to worry for Seras more than anything. If Integra herself died, what would Seras Victoria do?

* * *

"Police Girl."

Seras paused in her writing, pen hovering over half filled documents, and let out a heavy sigh. Though it had been decades since she had last laid eyes on the owner of that voice his words still continued to haunt her. It was one of the reasons she was so adamant about his return. Every time Integra so much as hinted at her doubt of his loyalty she would hear a dark chuckle in the back of her mind, mocking the woman behind her back, and leaving Seras feeling hopeful and determined.

But it was not actually his voice, she knew. Rather, it was the memory of him that echoed in her mind, body and soul. He was her master and though a person could not say that they exactly loved each other there was still a deep connection between them. It allowed them to share thoughts and emotions, feel each other's pain, and Seras to notice the horrible absence he had left behind when he vanished that day some thirty years ago. Integra missed his presence, his comments and antics, but she did not feel the deep heart ache that wracked Seras' body whenever she was reminded of him.

She stared down at the paperwork blankly, deep in thought, and ignored the sound of laughter floating down the hall of the manor to her own little office. Some of the men no doubt getting into trouble with the cook again. Natalie was more than able to take care of herself. She was a firecracker of an older woman, one that had been with them since before the attack on London and had been able to stand up against Alucard himself, and she only seemed to get worse with age. The men delighted in riling her up knowing that she would eventually throw a snack or two their way just to get them out of her kitchen. They were nice enough men but she had never known anyone with larger stomachs than them, not even the Wild Geese. She shook her head and attempted to focus on the paper in front of her.

After the attack in London there had been copious amounts of vampire activity but it had died down after ten years, and for the past twenty? Seras had been juggling paper work, training the new recruits, and acting as Integra's assistant and right hand woman in place of the late Walter. It was exhausting work, being the jack of all trades, but then, she honestly wouldn't have it any other way. She enjoyed keeping busy. The men had grown to respect her and though they were no Wild Geese they still managed to cause quite the racket with their mischievous behavior. She was certain it was the depressing atmosphere they had sensed when they first arrived that caused them to bring out their more childish sides to lighten the mood. When Seras had first stood in front of them wearing a grim expression and demanding respect the mood had been immediately shattered when one of the men wolf whistled. His name was Arron, if she recalled correctly, and was still with them to this day. She had leveled him with such a look of contempt then and though she tried her hardest to remain stern, she just couldn't. Her lips had broken into a smile and she had let out a sigh. Even knowing that she was a vampire they had still opted to poke fun at her for the sake of cheering her up.

Red eyes lifted to the framed picture on her cluttered desk top. It sat resting innocently next to the rather old and ornate lamp that had come with the office and while the rest of the room had gathered dust she had refused to let the picture fall victim to the grime.

Integra, still young and defiant, stood at the center of the picture. Her eyes filled with a kind of vindictive mirth as she smirked at the camera and to her right just behind her stood Walter, smiling kindly. Alucard leaned against the grand staircase banister to her left, arms crossed and wearing an irritated frown. Seras stood between him and Integra, wearing her own joyous smile. And around them all stood the Wild Geese. Pip Bernadotte himself stood next to Walter wearing a cocky grin.

Seras had never been a nostalgic person, finding her own past too dark and grim to dwell on, and had marched forward through her life with nary a thought for the people she met and later left behind. But after having become a part of Hellsing, meeting everyone and learning what it meant to truly work as a team, well, she found herself yearning for those times again. The little family she had managed to cultivate had been obliterated by the Major during the London Blitz. The wild Geese had been defeated, Pip killed in front of her, Walter had turned on them, Alucard had vanished, and all that remained had been Integra and herself. Pip was a part of her now, true, but had he still been alive she had no doubt in her heart that the relationship they had would have been much different. Unfortunately, she could only ever hear his voice, smell the faint scent of cigarette smoke, and occasionally summon him into physical form for a few short moments. She hoped that one day she would be powerful enough to allow him freedom, like Alucard's familiar Baskerville, the mutt had always been found roaming the manor of his own will before London. In order to do that, however, she would have to drink more blood and she feared that if she did then Pip would be lost amongst the tide of souls within her.

Master would know what to do, she thought, and sniffed against the oncoming tears of frustration. She blamed it on having been sitting at that bloody desk for days on end, struggling through the accounts and reports in a vain attempt at helping Integra, but she just did not have the heart for paperwork. She wanted to be outside, enjoying the moon light, running through training routines with her men, not stuck in a room with no mental stimulation other than her own sad memories. But the men were all well trained, the majority were veterans who had gone on several missions already, and while she could continue to run drills with them they were more often than not already training on their own, very much aware of the dangers of slipping up when in the field. The sun was shining as it was anyways. She could feel its rays through the closed blinds and thick curtains and it made her uncomfortable enough to be irritated by it. The warmth of it would have once lulled her to sleep long ago when she was human but now it just made her feel gross, like she was coming down with a sicknesses. Whenever she felt the fatigue she wished for her master. He had always known what to do. He had never been soft hearted or extremely kind exactly, but whenever she had panicked or been worried, he had offered a firm pat on the shoulder or just the right maniacal grin to put her heart at ease. And when he had finally shown up in London he had placed a hand atop her head and smiled down at her with the warmest expression she had ever seen him wear and it had made her so happy. She smiled at the memory.

Her eyes traveled over to the stack of unread mail and she grudgingly pulled it over to her, picking through the large pile and discarding the junk mail. She allowed her mind to wander while she worked but after having gone through the whole stack she paused and stared down at the final letter. Unlike the picture next to the lamp, this envelope did not sit there innocently, no, it was mocking all those that laid eyes upon it.

Seras scowled and reached for the phone at her desk, lifting it to her ear and pushing one of the various buttons on the pad. The line rang once before a rather annoyed Integra answered. She was probably hungry by that point as it was late in the day and if Seras knew her like she thought she did then there was a plate of food sitting at her desk, pushed off to the side and growing cold, while she continued to scroll through her emails on her laptop.

"Sir Integra," Seras groaned, "We've received a letter from the Vatican."

"What?" Integra snapped over the line. The phone crackled against the volume of her voice and Seras pulled the phone away from her ear with a resigned sigh.

Across the Manor, siting at her own desk, gnawing at the end of her cigar, Integra scowled. Her platinum blond hair had grown silver over the years but she had aged gracefully. Few wrinkles adorned her face and her back was still strait and strong, her shoulders broad, and her figure admirable. She pushed herself away from her desk and took a long drag on the cigar. The open laptop at her desk lit the otherwise dark room as her curtains were drawn shut against the daylight. Over the years she had developed a distaste for the flaming ball of light and she blamed Seras for it. It was like a form of sympathy pain that was so subtle she hadn't noticed the growing dislike until it was to late.

"What does it say?" she asked wearily and leaned against the desk.

"It's an invitation . . ." Seras said hesitantly.

"To what?" she asked darkly. She could only guess what the Vatican would invite her to: her kidnapping? Her execution? A parody performance of Dracula? Either one of those options would be just as bad as the other but she would admit that the performance of Dracula would be the most humiliating and therefore her least favorite out of the three. Which would make it the Vatican's favorite.

"The city of St. Augustine is celebrating its four-hundred and sixty-fifth birthday, Sir," Seras answered while she read through the letter. "The Pope would like to meet with you, offer his respects, and hopefully build a better relationship . . . or something like that . . ." she trailed off with a nervous laugh.

"Ha," Integra grunted and ground out the last of her cigar. "More like rub their prosperity in our faces." She let out a sigh and crossed her arms, standing in front of her desk while she stared out the window in thought. "Alright, send out a response," she growled, "I'll take the bait. But you of course will be coming with me. If I have to suffer through this than you do too."

"Yes sir!" Seras exclaimed happily. The thought of traveling to an old city in America, where she had never been before, awakened a bit of childlike curiosity within her. She hung up the phone and quickly penned a response before folding the paper, slipping it into an envelope, and setting it aside with the rest of the mail to be sent out. Andrews would be by shortly and would take care of the rest.

Within the last few years the new Pope had changed a lot within the Vatican, so much so that even Integra's prejudice against them had flagged a bit. Seras was just glad that there was less fighting between them. Though she had no sympathy for them she had garnered a sort of respect for Alexander Anderson, the only person to even come close to defeating her master, and though he had made it clear he stood on his own in the end she had still transferred some of that respect to the Vatican. It was no surprise that Integra was actually willing to cooperate with them, not to mention they would be meeting in a heavily populated city, though she highly doubted they would try to "remove" Integra but it was still better to have the suspicion then not at all. If they tried anything while they were in St. Augustine it would surely become public.

She pushed herself up and moved to the window, pulling aside the curtains just a fraction to peek outside, squinting against the light that streamed in. Her little office looked out over the training field and she could see her men practicing their drills, marching about, and taking aim on the gun range. A spark of pride ignited within her and she smirked, watching them continue their training dutifully even without her orders to do so was promising, she had never before had a group so devoted to the cause. The Wild Geese had spent the majority of their time goofing off or sexually harassing her.

She let out a sigh just as there was a knock at her door.

"Come in," she called.

The door swung open and Andrews, the new Hellsing butler, stepped in. He was in his early thirties, fresh and clean shaven, with a full head of black hair and a pair of glasses perched on his nose. As usual he was dressed well, all in black, and wore a pleasant smile. His general presence was rather lacking, often times people would visit the manor and never notice his existence in the room until he, heaven forbid it, moved and nearly caused their guest to have a stroke. But Seras always pointed out that it was good skill to have as a butler so as to seem less intrusive. Plus he would make a good spy, to which Andrews would always reply that he _was_ a spy for a time and thus would find it redundant to reclaim that title after having left the organization the had employed him at one time. He had such a jovial yet at times intimidating personality that she was often reminded of Walter. The resemblance always saddened her, causing her to layer him with a melancholic smile whenever they conversed, but this only earned her a special place in his heart. He was a sentimental person himself, odd though it was seeing as how he worked for an organization that dealt with much more gruesome situations than any military, but there it was.

He closed the door behind him and stood at attention, a mug of warm blood sat atop a tray in his hand, "You're lunch, ma'am."

Seras smiled and reclaimed her seat at her desk as the butler moved forward and set the mug down gently in front of her.

"Thank you, Andrews," Seras said, pulling the mug closer to her and sniffing at the red liquid. "You always know how I want it," she commended him cheerily. She set the mug back down and lifted her gaze to the butler curiously. "How was your vacation? I didn't know if I was going to be able to hold out till you got back. I never realized how much you butlers do," she laughed.

"It was excellent," Andrews responded with a smile. "It was nice to see the family again, my sister has had her own set of little ones for a long while now but I'm afraid I rarely get to see them anymore." He tucked the metal tray under one arm while he spoke and his eyes took on a rather amused and slightly wistful glint. "Not to mention the weather was as gloomy as I could have hoped for."

Seras laughed, "You're such a strange one, Andrews, I swear if I didn't know any better I'd say you were the vampire."

"Quite. I am afraid I cannot help it, ma'am, I was raised to be a butler to the Hellsing family and as such I was exposed to the much darker side of humanity," he explained absently. As he spoke he moved over to the couch in her office and set the tray down on the coffee table, lifting a blanket from the couch he folded it and placed it on the back of the seat. It was true, the family had worked for Hellsing on several occasions and after Walter's death had prepared their son to take his place. Andrews had acted out after he finished school, refusing to serve Hellsing out of rebellion, and had later joined MI-6. He was well practiced in self defense and offensive styles of fighting, weaponry, and languages and was snatched up without a second thought. Not to mention his identity would be protected. But it was through a chance meeting on a battlefield some miles and several years away that he met Seras Victoria.

It had been during a strange mission, one that he later learned was the product of a crazed vampire and its ghouls, that he ran across the petite blonde vampire. He had been slinking through a old school, long forgotten after having been taken over by the vampire five years back, when he first glimpsed her. She darted from one classroom to the other with such speed that he had feared he'd seen a ghost. He spent the night trying to keep up with her, wondering if she was the one he had been sent to dispose of, when he quite suddenly found himself cornered by a group of ghouls. She had come to his rescue, hands fisted and wearing a feral grin, while he stared in stunned amazement in the corner. It had been such an awe inspiring sight that he could not get her out of his head for months afterwards and so later defected to join Hellsing as was originally planned. He had still been rather young then and would admit that part of it had more to do with her attractive figure and the mystery surrounding her than anything else.

Seras pursed her lips, taking on a rather distressed expression at the notion of a dark childhood, and followed the butler about the room with her eyes worriedly.

"Do not fret, Miss Victoria, I had quite a lovely family, I even had a pet tarantula named Sir Ivan as I was growing up," he admonished lightly, returning to her desk with tray in hand.

"Right," Seras agreed with a forced laugh. She wasn't so sure that his 'average childhood' was so average.

"Are you going to drink, Miss Victoria?" he asked patiently.

Seras looked down at the forgotten mug of blood and sighed. She hated ingesting the life giving liquid in front of others, it often made them uncomfortable, but Andrews was different. He insisted that she drank with him present and she had a sneaking suspicion that it had more to do with orders from Integra than friendly concern. As time wore on the woman had noticed her vampire drinking less and less blood and probably feared that if not carefully monitored she would wither away. But it had less to do with emotional state and more to do with her lack of time to do so.

But it was so terrifying. While drinking the medically donated blood staved off her hunger it was never as filling as truly drinking directly from a living person. And drinking them dry. Since the attack on London she had drunken several other individuals dry and while they all had been dying to begin with she had still felt rather guilty about it. Their voices had mingled with Pip's and she feared that, over the years, his voice would be drowned out.

 _It is alright, Seras, I am still here_ , his accented voice resounded through her mind, clear as day, and she smiled. A little warmth spread through her chest and she obligingly lifted the mug to her lips and took a hesitant sip.

Satisfied only after half the mug had been consumed, Andrews bowed with a friendly grin, and retreated from the office.

When he was gone, his footsteps fading down the hall at a hurried pace, Seras pulled out her laptop from its bag at her feet and opened it up. If they were to be traveling to St. Augustine then they would need a few supplies and she would need to do some research on the area, its history, and where to find the best coffee and cigars.


	3. A glass of wine to go with

Seras stood in front of the tall building on the street corner. Her head tilted back, a hand on her hat to hold it in place, as she stared up at the old architecture curiously. The city of St. Augustine was novelty in itself because, while the people meandered through the streets with their phones and chattered away about the modern aged things people were want to talk about, the city remained the same as always. The buildings were old, built with wood and stone, reaching up the skies proudly. The streets were cobblestone, some bricks still as old as the day they were first laid down nearly five hundred years ago and she could smell the years of dirt and grime accumulated between them. Grand churches and hotels, houses, and shops, decorated each road and corner. It was such a strange contradiction, the people of the future and the city of the past, that Seras found herself utterly transfixed. The air was heavy with centuries of emotions, she could taste it on her tongue, begging to be understood.

"The Casa Monica is one of the most extravagant hotels in St. Augustine," Integra commented from beside her. She too wore a wide brimmed hat to shade her from the sun. She was not adverse to the light but after dealing with vampires for years, staying up well into the night, she had grown rather comfortable with the dark of night. The weather, however, had been on their side that day as the sky was overcast and a brisk breeze blew in through the city from the ocean.

Seras was still feeling a bit woozy from the flight. She was a powerful vampire, but the open ocean still caused her to go a little weak in the knees.

"It looks it," Seras said, eyeing the stone building and the grand carpeting and furniture she could see through the front doors. The place radiated old fashioned aristocracy. "Master would love this place," she said absently.

"I have no doubt," Integra responded irritably and reached for the tin of cigars in her pocket out of habit. She was eager to check in though and pulled her hand back with a sigh. She couldn't help it, the thought of that grinning vampire sent a spark of anger blazing in her heart, he was probably off enjoying an extended vacation and whoring it up with all the woman that would no doubt be throwing themselves at his feet. While she was forced to play the part of a socialite in a city raised into its prime by the Vatican before she had ever been born. The whole place reeked of their culture and blase approach to life.

Seras laughed and lifted their bags excitedly. "Will we get to do some exploring?"

"If you want," Integra said while she followed the blonde woman in through the front doors. "I will admit the city certainly brings out the adventurous side."

Seras smiled at her boss, glad to see that she was so far enjoying the trip, she feared Integra would be a total grouch the entire time. She wouldn't blame her, seeing as how they were attending a city wide party thrown by their rivals, but it would still have been a huge downer. Over the years Integra had grown less strict, for every wrinkle she earned she gained a little more humorous sparkle in her eye. It was quite lovely to see, Seras understood what her master had meant when he said growing old was a beautiful thing.

Andrews appeared behind them, adjusting his glasses and sliding the car keys into his pocket, having returned from parking the car within the neighboring four story parking garage. He had walked as fast as he could to catch up to them in time but the only give away was the slight blush to his cheeks which could have easily been caused by the bitter breeze.

"Andrews, why don't you check us in and we'll head up to our suit before dinner," Integra ordered lightly as she took in the high vaulted ceiling and extravagant furniture decorating the concourse. There were several groupings of people milling about, talking quietly and laughing, lounging on the plush leather couches. In the very center an elegant fountain murmured quietly in the background.

"Right away Sir," he responded quietly with a small grin.

He stepped away while the women waited patiently near the entrance, bags now resting on the ground at their feet, and made for the front desk quickly.

Seras felt strange. She had never before traveled without the threat of a vampire attack, or some other random supernatural monster, and the calm atmosphere was new to her. She fidgeted, picking lint from her jacket absently for need of something to do and felt Integra eyeing her with amusement. She was excited to scope out the town, enjoy a new atmosphere, but the longer she stood there the more odd she felt. What was it that was bothering her so? Surely it could not be the lax environment. She had dealt with that often enough back at the estate.

Something just felt off. Like a heaviness in the air. It was starting to suffocate her. But when she turned to see if Integra was feeling the same she found that the woman as looking through her emails on her phone thoughtlessly, clearly not troubled.

She shrugged. She was probably just antsy to get a move on. It wouldn't be the first time she had worked herself up over nothing.

But even as Andrews returned from speaking with the man at the front desk and lifted a few of their bags himself she could not ignore the heavy air that permeated the whole hotel. It was a familiar feeling but she dare not voice her suspicious just then. As silly as it seemed she did not want to ruin Integra's chance at escaping the organization for a little while.

She lifted the rest of their bags while Andrews led the way down a large hall and to a set of stairs. She was lost in her thoughts while the two humans conversed lightly of their plans for that night. Her eyes, hidden behind dark lenses, turned to gaze out the windows as they passed. The place just gave her a strange feeling, she half expected some Victorian dressed people to be hanging out in the courtyard or for a powerful vampire to be hiding in the shadows, stalking them with his familiars, and it would not be her master.

She shook her head and laughed to herself. She really needed to get out more.

And just like that the spell was broken. Whatever cloud that had been hanging over them dispersed and she found herself relaxing.

They found their suit, a giant lavish thing with three rooms and a large sitting area for them all to lounge in. The furniture was all dark wood, the carpet plush and red in color, and a fire place sat against the far wall between a pair of large glass panned doors each opening up onto a balcony. Heavy red drapes fell around the doors and leant the room a dark and cozy feel. It was obvious the hotel, when originally built, had been created for the inherently wealthy only. While the furniture and decor were beautiful they were also very expensive and high class.

Seras and Andrews sighed in contentment, standing in the doorway admiring the room, while Integra marched in and opened one of the glass doors determinedly to smoke a cigar. She cared not for the luxuries and would, quite frankly, sleep in a rat infested hole as long as she could smoke. But Seras and Andrews were enjoying the familiar feel of the room, it was just like the estate back home, and it soothed whatever nerves that might have been frayed over the journey. Seras knew that, had she not spent the last thirty years in the manor, she would have felt horribly out of place and uncomfortable, afraid that she would break or ruin something.

Seras stared at her in disbelief while Andrews simply sighed and moved the bags into the room, brushing his employer's attitude and lack of personal health aside like a gnat. There was a room for each of them and while Andrews had argued that it was improper for him to sleep in the same suit as Integra the woman had waved her hand away and said, "This isn't the nineteenth century, Andrews, I will not have you stay in a smaller room because of some old dusty rule about statuses." And that had been that.

Seras jumped onto one of the large plush couches happily, delighted in its softness, and let out a breath of air. It was nice to get away for a while, even though they were about to treat with the Vatican. The idea hardly bothered her, the Pope was a very kind soul from what she had seen of him in the news, and she was more concerned with learning the history of the town than anything else. There were so many old buildings to explore, ghost stories to hear, and sights to see. She only wished she were still human and she could try the food . . .that didn't stop her from trying the alcohol though. She smiled at the prospects.

"Tomorrow night we will have a private dinner with the Pope, but we are free for tonight, what would you like to do?" Integra said from the balcony, leaning against the railing and looking into the room at Sera, who's head had popped up from over the arm of the couch.

Seras blinked, "Can we go out to eat?" she asked hopefully.

Integra quirked a brow. "I'm assuming you want to visit a nice restaurant for the atmosphere and not actually its menu," she stated blandly.

Seras laughed and pushed herself to her feet, "Yes, I've never had the chance to visit any of those fancy places and even if I can't eat there I'm sure it will still be fun." She did so enjoy people watching as most women were known to. That was something that had not changed about her.

Integra smiled kindly at her and turned her gaze out over the city thoughtfully. From her vantage point the trees covered the streets and the buildings that rose above the canopies were far older than the others in America. One could really imagine they were stuck in the past. She could hear the ocean from one block over, waves crashing against the seawall that stood between the water and the road that ran along it. Both cars and horse drawn carriages traversed this road, visiting landmarks and the handful of restaurants that lined the streets. A cannon fired somewhere in the distance as an actor displayed the uses of the weaponry back in the day to a crowd of excited tourists. If she stood on her toes she could make out the top of a large cross, erected on a small peninsula of land a few miles away; this marked the location where Christianity had first touched the United States. The cacophony of sounds, each seeming to belong to its own century, left her feeling somewhat whimsical.

Seras retreated to her own room, the curtains already set free of the restraints and blocking out what little light managed to seep through the cloud cover. She shut the door behind her, throwing the room into complete darkness, and climbed up onto the queen sized bed tiredly. She intended to sleep before dinner. The long trip over the water and unusual wakeful hours were quickly draining her and while the two humans went about unpacking their things and stowing them away for their stay she would rest. It wasn't like she had much to unpack anyways. She had brought a few articles of clothing and weapons just in case but the majority of what she needed could now be conjured at will thanks to her ever evolving abilities.

She kicked her boots off and pulled the comforter up over her shoulders, snuggling down into the pillows with a tired sigh. It had been a long while since she had slept during the day. While they had been making preparations for the trip she had kicked into overdrive to get everything ready. She had informed her men, gave them a list of chores, and had sped through as much paperwork as possible. She had even helped Andrews around the estate to prepare the rest of the staff for his own absence. She was physically and mentally fried. It was nice to know that she wouldn't have to deal with anything for the next week but what to do with her spare time. It was a strange sensation.

Since she had become a vampire there had been little time to stop and think, little time to absorb what had happened, not even an hour to mourn for her old life. Though it wasn't exactly the best of lives, she had had a few good friends that she had never had the chance to say goodbye to. They probably assumed she had died in the attack on Cheddar . . .she had . . . technically. But she still existed! She still felt human. There were moments when she felt just as human as the day she died! Lasting a few seconds, these moments were flashes of emotions she had begun to forget, such as longing and nostalgia. They were small events, like when she had woken up first thing in the evening and stumbled up stairs and started to make herself toast out of reflex some years back, long after the London Blitz. If something startled her she still lifted a hand to her heart though it had long stopped beating. She would open her eyes wide in the darkness even when her vampiric sight allowed her to see just as clearly as if it were day. And she still found herself using every door and staircase despite her ability to phase and appear wherever she pleased.

Her master was meant to be the one constant in her despairing existence. The one that was supposed to teach her the ways of the night. To explain the emotions she felt and the reasons she was overcome by strange instincts that she did not understand. But she had only had him for a few months at most before his disappeared and she was forced to forge her own path blindly. It was a feeling that she was no unfamiliar with.

Integra was the one she had depended on. She had plenty of experience with vampires and though she was only human she had kept excellent notes for her to read through. It was just enough to give her a basic understanding but Seras wasn't complaining. Anything was better than nothing. Yet she would still rather have her master there to guide her. She had spent endless nights tucked away in the library or Integra's office, anywhere where there was a window she could sit by and read under the moonlight, struggling through nearly a century's worth of knowledge. The majority of the notes were handwritten and accompanied by detailed sketches, she particularly liked the entry on vampire bats as the drawing of the little winged rodent was adorable, but the more recent notes beginning with Integra's father were typed and neat. Lacking in the creativity of the older generations. And she began to understand her master's yearning for the past a little bit more and wished she could share her thoughts with him, but it was not to be. Not yet anyways.

Even as she drifted off she heard his quiet chuckle.

"Something's not right."

"Sir?" Andrews looked over to Integra from where he stood, folding her clothes away into the dresser.

"The air here is foul with death, Seras noticed it too, but I have had no reports of anything from America in years," Integra explained. She stood at the window with a hand over her mouth in deep thought. "The Vatican may have very well of led us into a trap."

Andrews slid the drawer shut and stood, "I doubt the Pope would seek to destroy the Helsing Organization. We will have to investigate the matter. I am sure we will discover something after the dinner tomorrow night."

"Hmm," Integra hummed in response, watching the people on the streets below with a cold eye. They did not walk the streets with fear, there was no hesitation in the flow of night life, nor were there any rumors of vampires floating about. Yet there was such a heavy atmosphere hanging over the city.

Ever since the attack on London the world had changed. At first it had reeled from the attack that had spread across the world, appalled by the existence of monsters, but humanity, as it always did, had quickly stepped up to the challenge. Groups of monster hunters had arisen, ignorant of many of the secrets organizations like Hellsing and the Iscariot had, and stumbled about killing FREAK vampires and other supernatural creatures alike. She had no doubt that America was any different, especially with shows like "The Walking Dead" airing, she was sure they were itching to shoot some bastards themselves. Even she herself had grown bored with the lapse in monstrous activity though she would never admit it.

"Have you decided on a restaurant for tonight?" Andrews asked, interrupting her thoughts briskly.

"You know I never care for that sort of thing," Integra answered flippantly, waving the butler off with a sigh.

Andrews smiled, "Then I shall do some research and make a few calls. The reservation will be made for Eight O'Clock. I am sure that will give our little bat some time to rest up before sunset." He bowed briefly before dismissing himself. He left the room altogether in search of the front desk, intent on asking for recommendations.

Integra watched him leave and then listened to his retreating footsteps down the carpeted staircase before stepping out into the sitting room and making her way over to the large desk set on the other side of the room, facing the windows. Her laptop was already up and running on the dark wood surface. It wouldn't hurt to do a bit of research on the area and while she sat her gaze often drifted over to the phone. There was no real evidence to back up her suspicions and she wrestled with the want to send for her troops. It would seem ridiculous and the men would probably think she was just missing the old days, making mountains out of mole hills, and would show up wearing pitying looks. The thought alone irritated her and she slammed the laptop shut with a huff.

She drummed her fingers against the desk in thought. There really was not much she could do other than to remain vigilant and keep her eyes open. The Pope would be a valuable asset in regards to the secrets of the town. She would gauge whether or not he was trust worthy after the dinner planned tomorrow and then decide on how to proceed with her concerns. Until then she could either sit around driving herself mad with paranoia or she could explore. The thought was a silly one considering her character but she had never before been to Florida let alone St. Augustine. The air was fresher and the people lively and the combination was somewhat invigorating. She would wait until Andrews returned to decide on what to do with the rest of the evening before Seras woke. She did not trust leaving the vampire on her own, asleep, while she went off gallivanting across the city. She didn't need a maid walking in and coming across something with a little more bite than the average family dog.

She reached for the remote and switched the television on, searching for the news. She'd be damned if she just sat around doing nothing. Might as well learn what she could. She would keep her eyes and ears peeled for any suspicious occurrences that would hint at their usual prey.

When Andrews returned, claiming that the deed was done, Integra had only grunted and continued to search through the web. She had spent the past hour scanning websites, reading every ghost story tethered to the old city – hundreds – and was beginning to grow rather irritated with the lack of substantial evidence of vampire activity. The news was playing in the background and the anchorwoman, wearing a particularly disgusting shade of pink, was covering the upcoming events for the city's annual celebration. There would be a wine festival, several marathons, and reenactments to attend and at the very end a grand ball that, surprise surprise, only the richest could attend. It would be held at the Lightner Museum which had originally been a part of the Ponce De Leon Hotel, now Flagler College. The building was across the street and although it was smaller than the college it was no less extravagant. In its very center on the third floor a ball room was built with a square cut out of the center to look down over the first floor where a pool used to be but had since been filled in and turned into a restaurant. It was a curious set up and would no doubt prove an excellent arrangement.

Andrews straightened the pillows on the couch before retreating to his room only to return moments later and examine the bookshelves against the far wall.

But Integra did not care about the ball. She had not even bothered to purchase a dress before flying over, and she had not brought any make up or hair products to beautify herself. No. She cared about the strange aura that hung over St. Augustine and why its people seemed so oblivious to it.

Seras on the other hand had gone ballistic at the idea of a formal dance. She had grown up in an orphanage, gone to public school, and joined the police force immediately afterwards. She had been raised amongst commoners all her life and had never had the chance to partake in such extravagances. Even within the Hellsing Organization she had experienced more of the noble lifestyle than she could have ever hoped for. When Integra had absently let it slip that they would have to attend the draculina had literally bounced off the walls with excitement and had gone in search of the perfect gown. Integra hadn't seen the dress she had decided on, Seras had announced that it would be a surprise and had said no more on the subject, Integra had not dogged her for more information, deciding that she did not truly care enough to. She was sure the girl would wear something appropriate and that was all that mattered to her.

Andrews stood by the windows now, running his gloved finger over the wooden frames for the glass pans carefully.

Integra dropped her eyes down to the right corner of her laptop, noting that it was only seven and Seras had yet to rise from her cat nap, before glancing up at Andrews who had taken to refolding towels in the small linen closet between his and Seras's door.

"Andrews!" she snapped.

The butler paused and looked over his shoulder at her with a curious, "Sir?"

"Quite fidgeting, the room is in perfect order, neither I nor Seras require anything at the moment, so sit down and relax for the next hour!" She watched as the man fiddled with his fingers before awkwardly making his way over to the couch and obediently sat down. He seemed rather lost without a task to do. "Why don't you clean and organize your weapons, isn't that what you usually do on your off time?"

"I left them in the trunk of the car, sir," he answered somewhat dully and placed his hands in his lap. It was true. Whenever he had finished his chores for the day the ex MI-6 agent would see to it that his weapons were taken care of, even if they had not been used that day. The few brief years he had spent with the agency between his graduation and employment with Hellsing had been filled with much action and strict training that had instilled an ingrained habit of checking and rechecking his hidden trove of guns and blades throughout the day. The reason he was feeling so restless was no doubt due to the lack of said weapons but he had forgone bringing them up to the room in favor of not causing a scene in the hotel.

Integra's response was cut short when Seras stepped out from her room, stifling a yawn, and glanced between the two curiously. "What are you two on about?" she mumbled. She had pulled on a pair of jeans, a loose fitting black long sleeved top, and a pair of short heeled boots just after waking. It had been Integra's voice that had woken her but she wasn't irritated by it, she hated napping as it was. She suspected it was a trait from her old life that caused her to feel anxious whenever she woke from one, as if she were wasting time, but one quickly learns that when you become a vampire time is of little consequence. You had all the time you needed if you were careful enough. She was no fool though, she knew there was no such thing as true immortality, her master had made sure of that. He had made sure of a lot of things. But nothing she could really use later when he was gone.

"Did you sleep well?" Andrews asked pleasantly from his seat on the couch, glad that he could have someone to dote on.

Seras smiled, "I did, thanks."

"Now that you're up we can make our way to the restaurant," Integra said as she stood and pushed herself away from the desk.

Seras perked up as the woman retreated to her own room to change into something more appropriate for a casual dinner than her rather stern and masculine suit. Just as she was closing the door behind she called back to Andrews, "Put on some jeans!"

Seras turned back to face the butler in time to see him wilt under the command. She chuckled as he made his way over to his own room. The man was just too professional for his own good. Now that she thought about it she could not recall ever seeing him without a pair of gloves and a suit jacket. Well, expect for that one time. She had accidentally stumbled into his room once during his off time and it had probably been the most awkward moment in her existence. Their had been an unvoiced pact never to speak of the event again.

Seras took the time to stare out the window down at the streets, filled with excited people, and smiled. She may not ever enjoy the sunlight like she used to but sometimes the night life could be just as good. She recalled the times she had been out an about with a few rare friends, getting into all kinds of trouble, and it was fun just because it was night. It was dark and mysterious and they should have been home in bed, doing homework, and preparing for the next day. That had been a long time ago.

"Alright," Integra said as she closed her bedroom door behind her, now dressed in a pair of black slacks and a more feminine white blouse. It was as close as the woman was going to get to a more girly attire, Seras knew, and so she only shook her head.

Andrews came out of his own room in a pair of jeans and a button up black dress shirt and dress shoes.

That was also the closest he would get to casual.

Seras rolled her eyes and allowed the off the job butler to lead the way out of the room. The two women followed behind him while they descended the stairs and stepped out into the crisp night air. All around them the sounds of the night life murmured, soft live music and chatter, was occasionally broken by a loud laugh or round of applause. Seras could hear several TV's blaring sports games, the droning of well taken care of vehicles, and the rolling waves of the ocean not far from them. The Casa Monica was one block away from the water front and while the humans couldn't see it as it was blocked by the Castillo De San Marcos, the fortress built centuries back that now acted as a tourist attraction and museum, she could both smell it and hear it clear as day.

"The restaurant we will be dinning at is called Pete's Alley," Andrews informed as they walked, playing the tour guide despite never having been there himself. He was doing a rather good job at it though, he seemed right at home on those streets, but then again, he seemed right at home no matter where he was. He reminded the women of Walter in that aspect, it was just something in the way he carried himself, maybe it was a requirement of all good butlers? Seras resisted the urge to giggle.

"Pete's Alley?" Integra questioned dubiously.

"Yes, it is a rather unique establishment. It spans one block with an alley in between. One side is dedicated to quick service pizza and the other is a high class Italian restaurant. It is very popular among celebrities," he explained cheerfully. "I took the liberty of investigating it myself and I have no doubt that it will be to your liking Sir Integra."

"I'm sure," Integra responded dryly. She highly doubted any restaurant that served pizza could be considered high class, at least not that she had ever been exposed to, but Andrews had rarely failed her in the past so she gave him the benefit of the doubt and said no more.

Seras ogled every store front and shop they passed, mesmerized by the elegant and unique clothing's and jewelries displayed in their windows. It took all she had not to physically press her nose against the glass in wonder while the other two glided through the streets like posh natives.

" _If I were still alive I would buy you all the jewels in the world, Mon Cher_ ," Pip voiced in her mind.

"I highly doubt you would have had enough money to do such a thing," Seras responded dryly, "But I guess it's the thought that counts."

" _You wound me_!" Pip cried.

She could picture him holding a hand to his chest as if to steady his long dead heart. She rolled her eyes with a smile and pushed away from the window that displayed a rather elegant ring that had caught her eye. Integra and Andrews had walked on ahead of her and she could just barely make out the tops of their heads through the crowd. They had taken a side street that lead onto the main road of the original town. It was small and paved over with cement, the entrances to the street itself had been blocked off so only those traveling on foot could traverse the small street that was layered with shops and old time houses. Even though the sun had sunken beneath the horizon there was still much activity. As their small group moved on towards their destination they passed many a magician, pirate, or Victorian dressed woman.

"There are several bars and restaurants with themes such as those that are meant to draw tourists in," Andrews explained, pointing to an old time tavern with several people dressed in medieval garb standing out front and ushering people inside.

"How cool!" Seras chirped. She had never before had the opportunity to partake in any kind of dressing up except for a few Halloweens.

"I am sure you will enjoy many of the reenactments over the next week then," Andrews said with a chuckle.

They stopped in front of a small restaurant and sure enough a sign hung over the door that read "Pete's Alley" in a curious font. The building itself was brick and several stories tall, but it was very thin, and squished between two other buildings. The building to the left was sadly vacant but the old decrepit atmosphere fit right in with the ancient historical aura of St. Augustine. To the right was a small boutique.

Andrews moved to open the door for them and bowed as they passed by, Integra leading the way with straight shoulders and a no nonsense expression while Seras followed behind excitedly. True to his word, the front of the building was nothing but a small pizza parlor lined with booths on one side of the wall while the other side was a long padded bench with various tables placed in front of it for extra seating in the small clustered room.

Andrews marched ahead and lead them past the counter to a small door in the back of the room that opened into a laughably long and thin hallway. This was the 'Alley' that Pete was talking about Seras realized. The floor was old ornate tile and the hallway was lit by old fashioned mounted lamps that gave off a calming yellow glow. They traversed the alley in orderly fashion while Seras craned her neck to and fro, taking in the painting on the walls and the kitchen itself as they passed. There were several people working within the steamy room and she only got a glance before Andrews ushered her on in amusement.

Seras lagged a bit despite his prodding however, when the iron sent of blood reached her nose, her ears immediately perked in a strangely animalistic way. She would have assumed that it was blood from some kind of meat or someone had pricked a finger as was common in the kitchen, but the overwhelming wave that hit her was far too powerful for just a small finger prick.

"Seras!" Integra snapped from down the hall.

She pouted thoughtfully before jogging ahead to catch up with the older woman. She could investigate later. A cigarless and hungry Integra was not the kind of person you wanted to tick off. She had learned that the hard way on several occasions over the years.

Andrews pushed the last door open and they walked through a small outdoor seating area and then into the restaurant itself. Seras could still smell the crisp and fresh night air when the door swung shut behind her and the low lit restaurant, filled with the smell of bread and rich sauces, swallowed it up. Chandeliers hung from the high ceiling and illuminated the dark maroon painted walls from which grand paintings and potted plants hung. Servers in black hurried about in a controlled and graceful manner while guests, both elegantly and casually clad, murmured to each other over candlelit tables. The moldings and doors were made of a dark wood that lent the place a very Victorian feel and small private rooms set off to the side with open doors provided an idea of the kind of guests the restaurant received as the occupants were well groomed and dressed in expensive garb.

A hostess, a young perky red head, approached them cheerily and led them to a table in the center of the restaurant after asking them how many were in their party.

Andrews, ever the butler, pulled out both women's chairs before allowing himself to be sat. The hostess placed the menus down in front of them before leaving them to their own devices.

Integra immediately picked up her menu to scan through the selections while Seras examined their surroundings with a childlike curiosity. This was not the first time she had ever been in a rather posh environment but it would be the first time she had been in one without the threat of monsters or politicians at the round table conference. She listened to the soft jazz playing over the speakers and the laughter of flirting women happily. She turned back to focus on their own table and reached for the drink menu excitedly. Alcohol was the one of the few things she could still consume as a vampire and she had become quite the expert on it over the years. She thumbed through the laminated booklet while she half listened to Andrews speaking with Integra.

"While you are to dine with the Pope tomorrow night I will remind you that the Vatican will be present of course," Andrews said quietly while he read through the menu. He sat across from Integra and next to Seras at the table so she had a good look at what section of the menu he was looking at. Strange, she didn't really peg him as a pasta person. He was always so fit and trim she had thought he would have avoided the carbs.

"Of course," Integra responded with an irritable sigh, wishing they had requested an outdoor table so she could smoke. She glanced through the windows longingly at the other guests who were partaking in tobacco.

"It would be best to remain on guard. While the Pope has had a change of heart I doubt the Vatican itself ever will," he continued.

"I have no doubt," Integra growled.

"Especially if that woman, Wolfe, is present-".

"Thank you, Walter, I know!" Integra snapped, slamming the menu on the table.

Several of the nearby tables turned to watch on curiously as the two argued, wondering what gossip they could gain from the situation, and whether or not they were of anyone of importance. Which they were. Just not to the general public.

Andrews mouth clicked shut and he resisted the urge to sigh. Integra had slipped up several times in the past and called him by the ex Hellsing butler's name without realizing it. Often times he brushed it aside but he could not help the twinge of frustration he felt at the situation. It appeared, however, that this time she had realized her mistake and she closed her eyes in an attempt to gather her thoughts.

Seras watched on worriedly, concerned for two of the most prominent people in her life, and shifted her gaze between the two. She noted that Andrews had taken on a rather slumped posture and Integra wore an expression of frustrated regret. She felt her own sadness well up at the thought of the late Walter and dropped her gaze to the table cloth.

"I realize that I have quite a large pair of shoes to fill," Andrews spoke up after a long minute of silence. The two women lifted their gazes to him in surprise. "But I am determined to prove that I am worthy as his replacement."

Integra remained silent for a moment before a kind smile washed across her face, "I am glad to hear it."

Seras grinned. Integra would never apologize for something so trivial and she was glad that Andrews had already observed that and had valiantly stepped up to smooth over the situation. It was true that Andrews was an excellent butler and agent of Hellsing, but his first few years with them had been rough, filled with many mishaps and screw ups on his part, but he had come to them with copious amounts of experience and had learned quickly. He was well on his way to Walter's level and as far as Seras was concerned, as long as he didn't betray them to vampire Nazi's then he had already surpassed him. She chuckled quietly to herself and returned to her scouring of the menu.

"Good evening, my name is Peter, and I will be assisting you tonight."

They all looked up from their menus to greet the tall man pleasantly. He was dressed in a black dress shirt and slacks as all the other servers were but a crisp and freshly cleaned white apron hung from his waist and a red bow-tie was fit snugly beneath his shirt collar. He was a blond haired blue eyed gentleman without a doubt.

"May I start you off with a few drinks?" he prompted as was expected.

"I'll have a gin martini," Integra said flatly.

Peter nodded professionally and scribbled it down in his note pad and turned to Seras expectantly.

"Can I get a pinot noir?" Seras asked hesitantly.

He smiled at her and noted her beverage before turning to Andrews.

"I'll just have a sweet tea if you don't mind," Andrews stated with a smiled.

"Of course, someone has to have a clear head in the group," Peter agreed with a chuckle. "I will be right back with those." He gave them a curt but friendly nod before moving away to see to their beverages.

"He was nice," Seras commented as soon as he was out of ear shot. She watched his figure trail through the restaurant in interest.

"You should have ate before we left," Integra droned dryly, her eyes trailing over the other guests in the restaurant who had since turned their attention away from the table upon realizing there would be no further argument.

"I don't mean like that!" Seras exclaimed.

"Oh?" Integra turned her gaze onto the draculina curiously with a grin working its way onto her lips. "Yes, I do recall that even your master used to partake in nightly company every once and a while."

"Sir!" Seras cried, fighting the small blush that managed to work its way onto her pale undead cheeks. "I was just making an observation!" she scowled and crossed her arms, leaning back into her chair with a huff. Next to her Andrews covered his mouth and chuckled.

She was saved further, or perhaps more, embarrassment by the return of Peter carrying a small tray with their drinks balanced on top. He set the drinks in front of their proper owners before straightening with the tray under one arm.

"Have you decided?" he asked.

"Yes," Integra began, "I'll have the redfish."

When his eyes turned on Seras she grinned nervously and waved him away, "Nothing for me tonight!"

He blinked and scrunched his brows together in concern, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Seras answered, "It's alright."

"I will check on you later just in case then," he responded with a smile before turning to Andrews who ordered the spaghetti. Peter made a final note in his book before snapping it shut with another polite nod and once again gliding away to another table.

The three made light conversation while they waited for their meals, or lack thereof, and continued to observe the people around them. Naturally Seras and Integra turned to people watching, pointing out interesting characters among the crowd of guests, and making whimsical judgments as was their habit. Andrews did his best to play along but his heart wasn't into it when Seras's imagination ran rampant and she started to invent elaborate back stories and dramas for their fellow patrons. Integra made noncommittal noises when this happened and would take to watching her young friend with a wistful smile that showed her age.

When their food arrived Seras sipped from her drink politely as they ate. There was not much conversation to be had while the humans tested their Italian cuisine and she was loathe to interrupt them. The smells wafting from their food often dredged up memories that she enjoyed reminiscing over anyways. While they still made her mouth water she knew that if she were to take a bite she would only taste ash and so opted to live vicariously through them instead. Her eyes glided over to a couple talking quietly at a corner table. The woman had elegant dark hair swept up into a bun and was wearing an expensive looking black cocktail dress. The man seated across from her was a brunette, a little older, but still very easy on the eyes. Speaking of which, he had a rare set of grey peepers that bespoke wisdom Seras seldom saw in the people of the modern world. She noted the sparkle on the woman's left hand and the mirroring gleam of silver on his.

How nice it must be, she thought absently, to live such a normal life.

" _Don't be like that, Seras,_ " Pip admonished lightly with a hint of sadness in his own voice.

" _I'm sorry, I don't mean anything by it,_ " she voiced in her mind. " _Sometimes I just wonder . . ._ "

 _"If you hadn't become a vampire you would be dead,"_ Pip said, _"you would not have gotten the chance to live a normal life either way."_

 _"You're right,"_ she agreed with a quiet sigh and took a sip of her wine. She owed her continual existence to her master and the thought weighed heavily on her mind often times. It was not the same as being born into the world with no choice and in that sense she owed him a lot. He had given her the option and she had accepted without a second thought. He had taken responsibility for her, offered her a new home, and taught her what he could in their short amount of time together with nothing to really gain for himself.

The image of him standing before a blood red moon his back to her but his face turned just so to look at her over his shoulder, glasses shinning in the pale light, flashed across her mind for just a moment and she perked up curiously before slouching back in her chair.

She scanned the room looking for another subject to study and settled upon a single man sitting at the bar. He was dressed in a nice suit, sipping at what had to have been one of the many drinks he had swallowed that night, as he was slouched over, head resting in the palm of one hand. He looked rather bummed, she noted, and watched him shoot back the rest of the amber liquid sympathetically. A cellphone sat next to his hand and he glanced at it frequently, waiting for a call or text message that it appeared would never come.

That was something she could understand. She chuckled halfheartedly and continued on, pausing on a rather good looking man in another corner. He was seated at a table with a few other men and woman, all talking and laughing quietly. They seemed a bit more proper than the majority of the guests there, with proper posture and speech. They were all eating the soup she observed curiously. Despite the five other good looking people sitting at the long table he was the only one to draw her attention. They were seated in one of the private rooms, the doors still open, and her position was just right enough to allow her to view him with ease. He was wearing a black pinstriped suit and red dress shirt. His black hair was a bit on the messy side but his facial structure was what really drew her eye. It was so familiar . . . When his eyes lifted to hers she immediately looked away irritably.

"We have a whole day to fill tomorrow and I refuse to spend it wasting away in a hotel room," Integra spoke after finishing her fish. She set her fork down and took a sip of her martini before continuing, "Is there anything specific going on tomorrow, Andrews?"

Andrews set his own fork down, wearing a thoughtful expression and said, "There is a reenactment to take place at the Castillo De San Marcos, other than that nothing more takes place until later in the week."

"Hmm," Integra hummed thoughtfully and took another sip, "I read something about a wild life preserve not too far from here, I'm sure Seras would like the chance to see some animals."

"That sounds great!" Seras exclaimed happily. "I've only been to the zoo once before and it was for a class field trip so I never really got get a good look at all the animals."

Integra laughed, "Alright then."

Andrews let out a sigh but smiled. Here they were in a historic town filled with museums, shops, and tourist sights and the two wanted to go to a zoo. Should he have expected anything else?

Peter returned then to check up on them, he noted their empty plates happily and asked, "Would any of you be interested in a desert?"

Integra leaned back in her seat and let out a sigh, "I would actually."

While the two ordered their deserts Peter sent Seras a curious look, "Are you certain you don't want anything?" He broke the line of proper speech and leaned forward to speak to her quietly. "Forgive me for seeming forward but we do cater to people from all walks of life . . ." he trailed off awkwardly and gave the people around them a pointed look, causing Seras to follow his line of sight to another couple sitting across the restaurant. She scrunched her brows together in confusion, not quite understanding what he was getting at, but it suddenly clicked and she sat ramrod straight in surprise.

"No, I am fine, I ate before we left!" she squeaked.

Peter took on a rather relieved expression, his smile returning, before walking away.

Integra and Andrews had continued the conversation without her but as soon as Peter was well out of her sight she leaned forward with her elbows on the table and her hands on either side of her face, fingers laced across her brow.

"Sir?" she said quietly.

Integra glanced over at the woman curiously, "What is it?" Seras had taken on a worrisome tone of voice that she often attributed with danger or the threat of punishment.

"I noticed when we first arrived that there is an overpowering scent of blood here," she began, her eyes remained steadfastly on the older woman in front of her. "But I brushed it aside and now I am regretting that."

"What do you mean?" Integra questioned sternly.

Andrews had taken to scanning the restaurant, wondering what had Seras in such a state, and froze. "She means that we are among a rather alarming amount of the more dangerous nightly crowd," he muttered darkly. He leaned forward and steepled his fingers, resting his chin atop them, appearing as nonchalant as the rest of the guests.

Integra needed no more information to understand. She leaned back within her chair comfortably with a sigh. It seemed their suspicions had been correct after all. She would have to make a call back home and figure out their next move. America was out of her jurisdiction but she couldn't exactly leave a Vampire infested town to fend for itself.

"He said they cater to people from all walks of life," Seras quoted nervously.

"Did he now?" Integra said absently, now taking in the previously thought to be tomato soup that all the red eyed patrons were indulging in. "How peculiar . . ." she muttered. She spotted their waiter across the room heading in their direction and lifted a hand to signal him.

Peter returned to them obediently, still wearing his pleasant smile, "Ma'am?"

"I would like to cancel our desert, something has come up that we need to see to. Would you mind bringing us the bill?" Integra lied smoothly.

"Of course!" Peter responded assuredly and hurried off to cancel the order before the kitchen got around to making it.

"What do we do?" Seras asked darkly, her mood having shifted in the mere moments it took Integra to speak with the waiter. The threat of a fight sent her dead heart beating again.

"Nothing, there is too many, nor is it our place," Integra said quietly, but neither of the other two at the table missed the undertone of frustration. "We'll do as the Americans say and 'get the hell out of dodge'", she muttered.

Seras nodded curtly and watched as Peter returned with their bill. She ignored the rest of his spiel and focused on the vampires around her without physically looking at them. Now that she had been made aware of their presence she was floored to realize that their numbers far surpassed her fingers. How could she have not noticed them? Master would be disgusted with her, Andrews and Integra were human and so had an excuse, but this was not something she should have missed. She should have known the second they had come within a mile of the building. How?

Integra paid in cash and as the three stood, casually pushing in their chairs and chatting about the upcoming trip to the zoo, but Seras noticed another stand as well. Across the restaurant, from one of the few private rooms she had been observing, the familiar man moved towards them. She could see his crimson eyes from out of the corner of her own and she fell behind Integra and Andrews as they moved through the door into the small outdoor seating area, bare of any occupants. She would be the first person in the line of fire, if there was any, and she sorely hoped there wouldn't be, but by the way he followed after them she doubted they would get away without any trouble.

He strolled through the restaurant with a strange expression on his face and as the door swung shut behind them, muffling out the chatter and soft jazz of Pete's Alley, she saw his brows lift in surprise.

Integra and Andrews continued ahead but as soon as the door had shut it opened immediately after and the vampire closed it behind him and stood to face Seras who had turned upon his entrance. With her shoulders squared and her feet spread apart she posed quite the image, even if she wasn't wearing her uniform. She placed her hands on her hips and scowled, "Can I help you?"

Both Andrews and Integra turned to watch as the man straightened, wearing a small smile, and bowed at the waist.

"I could not help but notice," he began, once again standing straight in front of them. His voice was soft and pleasant, not the kind of tone any of the three were used to hearing from a vampire.

"Notice what?" Seras prompted irritably.

"You, my dear," he answered with a chuckle, "your blood practically sings of the one who made you."

"What?" she exclaimed. That statement sounded far to personal for her liking.

Integra stepped up just behind Seras, eyeing the vampire from over her shoulder with an intense expression hung between her brows. Andrews had pulled a knife from his sleeve but remained where he was.

"The No Life King," he added. "He was the one who gave you your unlife and sent you down the path of darkness." He stepped forward and reached for her hand, lifted it to his lips, and placed a gentle kiss over her knuckles. "It is an honor to meet you, Draculina."

"What?" she repeated, though this time her voice was laced with nervous apprehension. She glanced over at Integra who was scowling at the act.

"What are you playing at?" Integra snapped. At some point or another a cigar had found its way between her lips and she was now gnawing at the end of it as if the act alone would end the vampire's existence.

"There are no games here, Sir Hellsing . . ." he trailed off. "I would have thought you would have left the organization, Draculina, after the death of your master." He looked at her with such a melancholy expression that she found herself relaxing under his gaze. His mouth formed a tight line as he fell silent and took a moment to gaze into her eyes searchingly.

"No, I . . ." she struggled to explain herself and then wondered why she felt the need to do so at all.

"Why are you so interested in my former servant?" Integra questioned darkly.

The man lifted his gaze to her solemly, "All true nosferatu are. At the time of his passing we wept and mourned for the end of his life marked the end of an era. He was our King, our savior, and even under the reign of Hellsing he was a figure to be admired. . ." he let out a deep sigh and stood back from them, taking in the three thoughtfully. "And I'm surprised you haven't noticed the resemblance," he pointed to his face in a sudden turn of emotions and chuckled, "Vlad was my big brother."


	4. Reconnaissance

The word monotonous was something of a mantra to him now. He had killed hundreds of thousands of people throughout his existence; in war, in lust, and in rage. He killed so many that he had long since lost count and the faces that haunted him had become nothing but soulless, expressionless, and empty representations of humanity rather than the identity they used to portray. He had waged battles across the ages to win his fights, to further along his existence, and later to help Helsing along in their goals. Never had he regretted a death brought upon a person by his own hands.

But now.

Now he wished he had not drained as many lives as he had because while each had empowered him, leant them his strength to continue on, it had certainly come back with a vengeance. Millions of souls later and he was still slaughtering his way through them. He had fun when he first started, discovered elaborate new ways to torture the souls he had saw fit to end, but as time wore on he had grown bored with it all and had taken to ending them as soon as possible.

Yes, the word monotonous had become his worst ngithmare. It hung over his form like a shadow.

He dropped his gaze to the beast next him. Baskerville had found him shortly after the beginning of his venture. The hound had felt the presence of his master immediately and had come to him to offer aid in his endless slaughter.

A point would come when he would have to destroy the dog too, he realized, and the thought irritated him. He had not grown to love the creature, as it had long since become too ingrained with his own character to really be considered its own entity, but he would be lying if he said he did not have a form of attachment to the beast.

Did he really need to destroy every last soul? He had lost a sense of self, yes, but the further along he went he had come back to himself more and more. Baskerville was a creature of darkness, surely he did not count as a living identity needed to be destroyed in order to regain his self-awareness. He took in the remaining souls around him – barely a handful compared to what he had already gone through – and grinned.

"Baskerville," he chortled.

The hound lifted his nose to his master, eight eyes focusing on him while his tail wagged and blood dripped from his muzzle, a forgotten soul torn apart at his paws.

"Go and find the girls," he ordered.

Baskerville cocked his head curiously before turning to gaze off into the surrounding darkness, scenting the air, and giving his master one last look before hurtling off into the void obediently.

He watched the creature go, ignoring the rest of the souls lumbering closer, and smirked. If Baskerville could find his way to them then he would have no problem in the future. The dog had already caught their scent and galloped after them. He was closer to returning to reality than he had originally thought.

* * *

"What?" It was Integra's turn to look utterly bewildered and confused. The cigar hung from her lips, long forgotten, and her eyes widened to an incredible size.

"I am Radu," the vampire answered with a smile and another bow, "At your service."

"But, how?" Integra stammered. "You were killed?"

"History has a very funny way of confusing itself," Radu said with a light laugh. "Technically, I was killed, by one very famous Elizabeth. But that is a story for another time," he explained. He dropped his eyes to the ground momentarily before letting out a quiet sigh. "I only wished to meet you for myself but now I see my desire may have caused some confliction amongst you. 'What to do with a town full of vampires?' or something along those lines."

"Indeed," Integra agreed coldly.

"Do not fret," Radu said reassuringly, lifting his hands in a gesture of surrender, "I will answer any questions you have."

"Damn right you will," Integra growled. She clenched her fists and glanced around the patio suspiciously, "But not here. It's too dangerous." She turned back to look at Andrews who allowed his gaze to slide over to her wearily.

"Room one-zero-six at the Casa Monica," Andrews stated, now glaring at Radu threateningly. The idea of inviting a vampire into their hotel room butted heads with every instinct he had, but if it was Integra's implied orders then he would follow through with them. He only worried for her safety.

"You trust me with such information?" Radu drawled with a grin very reminiscent of his brother. Seras looked away.

"No," Integra snapped, "But Seras can easily dispatch of you if you decide to cause trouble."

Seras perked up at the unintended compliment and smiled at Integra before turning a decidedly cocky grin on Radu. She had grown rather strong over time and had yet had a chance to see just how powerful she was. The attack on London had only been the beginnings of her awakening and it had been thirty years since. Although, if her lapse in observation that night was anything to go by . . . she deflated a little bit at the thought. Not enough for any of the others to notice but she was still aware of it.

Radu smirked, "I have no doubt about that, she has my brother's blood in her veins after all." He looked at Seras with a soft smile, a sort of fondness, before returning his attention to Integra. "Very well, I can't leave my party just yet as it would cause suspicion, but give me an hour or so and I'll be there."

"Fine," Integra forced between grit teeth and spun on her heel, a sheet of silver blond hair fanning out behind her, and marched through the door into the hall without a second look back.

Andrews waited for her to pass before following, shooting Seras a curious look, and paused at the door.

Seras turned back to Radu and fumbled for something to say, unsure of how to act around her master's brother, before settling on giving him a curt nod and turning away. She jogged to catch up with the retreating form of Integra.

The returning trip back to the hotel was a blur. Each of them caught up in their own chaotic trains of thought that careened out of control, crashing into each other, and sending their minds spinning in confusion. Radu Dracula was a vampire? He had survived hundreds of years without them ever hearing about his existence? Why had he not mentioned his own brother? It was enough to dampen their already destroyed moods. Even Seras was in a snappish daze that she was loathe to be pulled from, even when Andrews pointed out an interesting building that was supposedly haunted she had only grunted in response, not bothering to glance at the building.

Radu Dracula was a mystery. Integra knew of the basic facts; he was Vlad's only full blooded brother, he had been held captive amongst the turks as well, and he had later converted to their religion and joined them while Vlad had rebelled and later waged war. He was nothing like his brother, however, and had a very gentle demeanor never before seen in a vampire. It could have just been an act but Seras could not doubt the amount of sadness, the forlorn depth, in his eyes. What had he been doing all this time?

So deep in thought was Seras that she missed the first step on the grand staircase leading up to their room, and tripped over the stairs, landing sprawled against them with a pained grunt. She had never been the most graceful of people when alive but she had hoped that, as a vampire, her accident prone streak would have gone into retirement. But it was not to be. She scrambled onto her feet while Andrews chuckled from behind her.

"How graceful of you," he said through muffled laughter.

"I know, I know," Seras muttered, rubbing at a sore shin irritably.

"Quit playing around," Integra called back over her shoulder, having already reached the top of the stairs.

Seras huffed and pushed herself forward, determined to make it back to their room so she could tear into a pack of medical blood and ease the growing frustration within her. She often got a bit snappy when she was famished and though their situation was stressful enough to warrant anyone's distress she was almost positive her irritability was due to her hunger. Her master's own brother was still alive, surely she would have normally been elated, even if he was a vampire. The only person alive who had known him as a human, a boy, and later a man. He would know what made him the way he was. He would know things that she had never thought to ask, had always been too afraid to, like how he came to be the monster that he was known as today.

Seras hurried up the rest of the stairs with Andrews following behind and barely restrained herself from blowing past Integra but when the woman had stepped through their door she had flung herself into the room and marched over to the fridge. She opened the small stainless steel contraption and pulled out a pack of medical blood and lifted it to her mouth, breaking the plastic with her teeth, and drank straight from the packet. The coppery liquid washed over her tongue and down her throat with little regret. She had long since grown accustomed to the thought of partaking in the life fluids of humans. She had learned to enjoy the burst of unstoppable energy that would flow through her.

Integra moved to sit at the desk, letting out a sigh when she had relaxed within the cushioned chair, and reached for another cigar. The hotel staff could kiss her ass for all she cared in that moment.

Andrews obediently arrived at her side to offer a light and stood back when she had taken the first pull and let out a streaming cloud of the noxious smoke. He waited patiently for further orders, still clad in his jeans and a button down shirt, but eager to please his employer either way. The two would remain there until Radu made his appearance and if the time was anything to go by then they had roughly twenty minutes until his proclaimed hour was up.

Seras finished the packet and threw it into the small trash bin next to the fridge before wondering over to the window and staring out at the night sky with her arms crossed. Now that she had sated her hunger a bit her mind was much clearer and she could recognize the feelings of confusion and excitement battling it out within her. What was Radu truly like? She wondered if he had turned out like his brother, driven mad by the sheer amount of souls bottled up within his head, or if he had managed to cling to his sanity. Was he as powerful? Could he do all that his brother had managed to accomplish? Of course he would never have all of that man's abilities, he had been tested and experimented on for a hundred years, but could he have some remnants of his true power?

Her answer came quickly enough. One moment their room was peaceful, quiet in the building tension, and the next moment her senses were awash with an immense and devastating aura. Seras turned with her arms still crossed, and glanced into one of the darker corners of their room darkly, noticing the way the shadows seemed to wriggle and expand under her gaze.

Integra and Andrews had yet to notice his appearance and for some reason their ignorance annoyed her. She let out a growl and turned to face the corner full on with her hands placed upon her hips once again. The movement drew the attention of the two humans.

"Don't play with them," she ground out between grit teeth.

A soft chuckle flitted across the room and Radu stepped out from the shadows as gracefully as his own brother. He still wore the same pinstriped suit and red dress shirt but what really struck her was the same melancholy smile that seemed to permanently grace his lips. It made her feel guilty for being irritable with him and the thought irked her beyond reasoning. He was just like his brother, teasing the living and testing them for his own amusement. She touched her neck absently, feeling for the puckered bite mark that had never healed.

"My apologies," Radu said. He had stepped out into the center of the room just in front of the desk Integra was seated at. "But I was more intent on testing you, in all honesty," he continued, layering Seras with a look from the corner of his eye. "In case you were wondering, many buildings in the area are charmed to hide our presence from outsiders."

Seras blinked and dropped her arms to her side thoughtfully, "That's why I didn't notice?"

Radu smiled and nodded once before turned to face Integra. "I do believe you had some questions for me?" he prompted, "I'd be happy to assist my brother's former employer in whatever way possible."

"I'm glad to hear," Integra drawled. She clasped her hands together in front of her and leaned forward in the chair, "Take a seat," she ordered darkly.

Radu looked a bit taken aback by her sudden change in demeanor but obligingly sat in one of the plush chairs set up around the TV. He sat facing her, clearly a little bit put out by the woman's attitude but nonetheless held his tongue. He rested his hands in his lap and looked for all the world like an obedient child, so much so, that it caused Seras to giggle. The slightest of smirks pulled at his lips and Integra scowled in annoyance.

"Enough playing around, vampire, now tell me what it going on in this godforsaken town before I put a bullet between your eyes!" Integra growled, glowering through her glasses, and reached for the gun she had placed within the left hand drawer early that day.

Radu laughed, "My apologies again, I understand now why my brother remained with you, you clearly have quite the intimidating character."

"Your brother was bound to my family blood by force, he remained with the Helsing Organization because he had no other choice," she said, her brows crashing together in annoyance.

"Believe what you will," Radu shot back with a sigh. He lowered his eyes to his hands thoughtfully, running a thumb over the back of the other before he began. "When my brother passed it had more of an effect than I believe you realize. You see, he was one of the first vampires to walk this Earth, and he worked his way up to the top through pure force of will. But, allow me to give you the full story, one that I am sure not even you have heard, Integra Helsing.

My brother was a strong man, even as a child he showed great strength and power of will, you see, we played the part as political hostages for the better part of our childhood. I don't wish to bore you with the details of why or how but needless to say we were meant to remain with the turks until adulthood and while I was obedient and did as I was instructed, Vlad was not. He fought tooth and nail every day for years and he suffered greatly for it. They punished him quite often for his behavior and actions . . .but I will not describe those horrors to you. I would think he would not appreciate it. . . ."

Radu fell silent and let out a heavy breath. Seras had moved over to sit down in the seat adjacent to his and she was stunned to see the beginnings of tears forming in his eyes. The blood welling up just beneath his lids was blatantly obvious in the low light of the hotel room. He leant back in the chair and rested an elbow on the arm, using his knuckles as a support for his head. In an effort to compose himself and chuckled and blinked away the tears.

"Regardless, it was years later after we had suffered through our imprisonment, that the turks returned to Vlad and asked for his own son. Can you believe it? We had thought they would finally leave us be. . . He refused of course, which brought war upon them, but they were such a small people. They had no chance of standing up against the turks. So the idiot that he was turned to the only thing he had left. There was a cave in the mountains near his domain, it was rumored to be the home of a monster, as he had already run across the creature before he knew that it existed and was determined to use it against the turks. The monster, the first true vampire, however, deceived him. He told Vlad that he was cursed to remain in that cave until someone of great power drank his blood. Only then would he be allowed to leave. And the trusting idiot believed him. He drank his blood thinking that the creature would be freed as soon as he did so, not knowing that the monster intended to kill him and leave as soon as he could, but he did warn Vlad. Warned him of the darkness that would consume him. Told him that if he resisted the urge to feed on humans for three days that he would return to humanity as soon as the job was done. Whether or not that was true I do not know. Regardless, he drank the monster's blood and was left to suffer through the sickness on his own, thrown into the river that spanned the mountains, and awoke a day later with incredible power. . ." Radu trailed off, lost in thought, and his eyes drifted towards the windows absently.

Seras looked to Integra thoughtfully and was surprised to see the woman looking pale. It was clear that she had never before been told the full back story of the man known as Vlad and was finding herself quite conflicted. He had had a child? An honest to go human boy whom he loved enough to start a war over?

"He won the war of course. But all his men were slaughtered. And his wife . . . she fell from a tower, Forced over the edge by a turk soldier who then took his son and escaped. I am not quite sure what happened after that but I can hazard a guess and say she demanded that he save their son with her dying breath. So he drank her blood, the blood of his fallen men, and forsake God and all that he had come to believe, embraced the darkness, and released hell upon the Earth like no monster ever could. His son was sent away to become the next ruler under the belief that his father had died."

Silence once more reigned the room and all present were left to their own thoughts. Seras was stunned and she had to remind herself that what she was hearing was reality and not some grand story made up for entertainment. These were things her master had suffered through and weathered on his own. She turned her gaze out to the stars, silent as the grave, and listened when Radu continued.

"It was tragic, he wished nothing more than to protect his family and his efforts quite literally destroyed it. His son grew into a great leader of course but I can never forget the moment that crown was placed atop a nine year old's head. He looked so small . . ." he smiled sadly, recalling the child who's feet did not even touch the floor while he was seated in the red velvet thrown with rows upon rows of people bowing at those feet. "Vlad became stronger, working in the shadows to ensure his son's safety, and when he had grown old and died, well . . ." he struggled to phrase his next sentence. "I guess you could say he snapped. He began recreating his old domain, calling subjects to him, drawing on the strength of other vampires . . . he built quite the empire. He waged war on humans on monsters alike and grew mad with rage. There was not a soul alive that did not fear his name. His laughter. Or the very idea of him. And the other Vampires respected that and were drawn to him like moths to a flame."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Seras piped up nervously. Radu turned his head to look at her a smiled in understanding. "But if Master was turned by the first vampire, where did the others come from?"

Radu waited patiently for her to finish her question before shrugging, "Oh, there are many theories, but I was told but someone very old indeed that the first vampire, locked away in that cave for centuries, had been feeding people his blood long before Vlad came along. It just so happened that none of them had been strong enough to break the curse. They always gave in to the lust for blood within the first day. But Vlad did not break until the sunset of the final day. He held out and fought with a will for more superior than anyone who had come before him . . ."

"That is a wonderful tale," Integra interrupted. She was attempting to compose herself after such a revealing story and the only way she knew how to do so was to grasp onto the tendrils of irritation that were always there, just below the surface, and snapped "But what does that have to do with St. Augustine?"

"Well, when Vlad passed on from this world all the Old Bloods felt it. He had been the support column for an era teetering on its last leg. We vampires live in the past, we thrive off of the stories of old, the things that remind us of when we were human, and when Vlad died, well, I like to think that the last vestige of our humanity died as well. His death struck fear into the hearts of all that knew him, and with his loss we too felt . . . disconnected . . . from reality. We flocked here because here is where the next strongest vampire resides. He is young, far younger than Vlad was, but he welcomed us all and soothed our souls and made promise of great things to come-."

"Great things to come?" Integra questioned in alarm. She had pushed herself to her feet, palms spread against the surface of the desk, and was staring at the vampire with a sense of dread.

"Promises of a peaceful future, of one day revealing ourselves to humanity in hopes of moving forward together, as allies," he explained hurriedly. "This year marks the beginning of that dream. He is to hold a grand ball the same night was St. Augustines, and we will introduce ourselves formally to the world."

"Nonsense," Integra snorted and straightened.

"You doubt the possibility?" Radu questioned, watching her as she stood and moved around to the front of the desk.

"It's not so much that I doubt it so much that it doesn't even register in my brain," she laughed, pulling on the cigar to fill the silence after her statement.

Radu was silent for a moment, his lips forming a tight line, and he dropped his gaze to the floor. He scowled in frustration and rubbed at his forehead, attempting to smooth out the wrinkles that formed there.

Integra's intense stare softened, she recognized the frustration he felt as something she herself had struggled with when her uncle turned on her just after the death of her father. He was conflicted, clearly wishing they would understand, but finding nothing but a solid wall of refusal in his way.

"How many times have you heard of a new leader stepping forward, promising great things, gathering forces? And how many times did it end nicely?" Integra prompted. She crossed her arms and leaned back against the desk behind her patiently. "The most prominent example I would use would be Hitler. And look how well that turned out? In fact, it resulted in the later death of your own brother," she continued. Now she stepped forward, moving closer to Radu who had yet to move from his seat. "You are being led astray, Radu Dracula, open your eyes."

Radu leaned forward and said, "I have a bad habit of falling in with the wrong crowd unintentionally." He chuckled darkly, "I was never as street smart as Vlad I am afraid."

Integra remained silent, thoughtful, and watched the vampire fidget before turning away and reclaiming her seat at the desk once more. Her mind was racing with ideas but she dare not voice them yet, afraid of shattering what little bit of trust she may have cultivated with Radu. He was interested in Seras because of her connection with his brother but as far as the organization went itself, well, she doubted he had any desire to deal with them. She could play her cards carefully, manipulate him, he had claimed to be unwise when dealing with others, but the thought caused guilt to blossom in her stomach. She had never thought the day would come that she would feel guilty for swindling a vampire but here it was. She sighed. She was tired of playing games anyways.

"I have a proposition for you," she began, claiming his attention. "This vampire may be a villain, an evil dirt bag needed to be put down, but if, in some strange twist of events, he isn't, then I will let sleeping dogs lie. America is not my territory. By all rights I have no business sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. But, in return, if you notice the slightest bit of suspicious activity you come to us and let us know."

Radu pushed himself to his feet and moved over to the window, staring out at the night in contemplation, and crossed his arms.

Seras turned in her seat to watch him over the back of the chair curiously, "It's really not such a bad deal," she called back to him. "But your choice really depends on what kind of person you are, I guess . . ." she trailed off. Integra was compromising with the vampire under the assumption that he was an inherently good person. But he was a vampire. He had no doubt killed people throughout his existence. She was allowing his connections with his brother to cloud her judgment and the thought both worried and comforted the draculina.

Radu smirked, glancing back at Seras thoughtfully before turning fully to face the three again. "Alright, I'll play your game. I can't disappoint the little draculina." He smiled at the befuddled expression that Seras wore. "I will keep my eyes and ears open for anything suspicious and report back to you."

"Excellent," Integra purred.

"I will take my leave," Radu drawled. And bowed, as was his fashion.

Integra closed her eyes in thought, frustrated with the need to once again rely on a vampire for intel, and did not see Radu move towards the shadows in the corner from which he originally arrived. Nor did she see Seras jump up and rush after him, sliding to a stop with her legs still in sight and the rest of her swallowed up by shadows.

The feel of the cold darkness slithering against her skin was distracting. She had yet to accomplish bending the shadows to her will, something that seriously irked her at times, but she had been acquainted with the feeling through her master.

"Radu!" She called, her voice echoing in the swirling darkness that assaulted her eyes. But she could still make the vampire out easily enough, as if the darkness did not touch him, cling to him like it felt like it was doing to her.

Radu paused, his foot hanging in the air as if he were about to take another step, and turned back to her. He caught sight of her over his shoulder and chuckled, noticing the way she hung half out of the darkness.

"Yes?" he asked with a tone of amusement.

"My master . . ." she trailed off, watching him earnestly, trying to convey what she struggled to put into words. Radu cocked his head curiously, a more serious expression taking over his face. "Everyone thinks he's gone but . . . I don't think so."

Radu turned to face her fully and looked at her with something akin to concern.

"It may seem like he is gone but I still feel him," she explained, lifting a hand to her neck where her bite marks could be seen.

Radu smiled at her once again, that melancholy act of happiness, and lifted a hand to his heart, gave her a slight a bow, and turned away into the darkness.

* * *

"Seras Victoria!"

The world of the living beckoned at her door. It spoke of life, of sunshine, and the ever turning Earth spinning on while its occupants thrived. Yet it also spoke in the voice of a very impatient Integra Hellsing.

Seras opened her eyes, sighted the sunlight streaming in through crack in the curtains and promptly pulled the blanket up over her head. She was assaulted by the smell of unfamiliar laundry detergent unsettled by the movement and was reminded of the situation. They were far away from the Hellsing estate and she was far away from her old life. The dream of her struggling to decide on what cake to order at a café while her master sat across from her, bare of his glasses, coat, and hat, smiling like he had never known a day of suffering his life, was obliterated. She groaned and burrowed deeper into the blanket and pillows.

"We have been waiting on you for the past hour, now get up!"

Seras did not respond, already drifting off into another dream about cake, and possibly her master.

Her door creaked open and a freshly showered and dressed Integra peeked in with an irritated scowl on her face. The sight of the formless lump on the bed caused her to straighten and throw the door open. It rebounded off the wall, leaving a small dent in the dark painted surface, before resting at an open position leaving enough room for Integra to stand with her hands on her hips.

"It was your idea to go to the zoo, it's only polite to join us on your venture!" she snapped.

Upon seeing that there was no response from the lump that was Seras she stepped forward and pulled the blankets off the bed, throwing them to the ground like so much trash, and watched Seras struggle to reclaim the little bit of warmth she had mustered through the night. After sliding her legs and arms all about the bed the draculina gave up and instead pulled another pillow to her chest.

"Are you kidding me?" she said dryly. She moved closer, hovering over the vampire, and covered her nose and mouth with a hand. The peaceful breathing Seras had been demonstrating came to a sudden halt and Integra waited several minutes for her to wake, but received no reaction. Deciding that all her options had been exerted she pushed the woman off the bed and laughed at her surprise as she fumbled about on the floor. "I did my best, Police Girl, but I had to resort to desperate measures. Now get ready!"

Seras's head popped up over the side of the bed, her hair mussed and eyes sticky with sleep and grit, "For what?" She mumbled tiredly.

"We're going to the zoo," Integra reiterated in a drawl and turned away, leaving the room, and a tired and befuddled Seras to sort herself out.

When she did finally drag herself out of her room, causing an expectant Integra and an amused Andrews to turn their head in her direction, she was tiredly fluffing her hair and squinting against the morning sunlight.

"What time is it?" she grumbled.

"Eight O'Clock, the park opened a few minutes ago," Andrews informed cheerily.

"Ugh," Seras groaned.

They arrived fairly early at the wild life preserve. Barely twenty minutes had passed in the car, soft jazz playing over the radio, with Seras staring tiredly out the window bundled up in her sunlight garb. The armor of the day was the usual black coat, hat, and sunglasses but she had chosen to wear a white top and jeans underneath to lighten it up a bit. Integra sat next to her in the back while Andrews was forced to suffer the front alone with nothing to combat the irritated and dark aura originating from the two women.

Seras attempted a perk up a bit when she stepped out of the car, taking a deep breath of the fresh breezy air, and turned to follow the two humans to the front entrance. There were several people out in the parking lot and she watched the families curiously, shoving her hands into her pockets, and nearly ran into Integra at the ticket booth.

Andrews was speaking with a friendly looking woman in her forties wearing a safari outfit and a very much alive parrot on her shoulder.

"Three tickets please," Andrews said, wearing his own professional smile.

"Sure thing, that will be twenty-four dollars," she responded. "It's a busy day today," she commented while taking the card from Andrews hand and running it through the register in front of her, "It must be the nice weather."

"Yes, it is quite . . ." Andrews struggled to agree with the woman but he was no fan of the pleasant weather, he much preferred the cloudy weather of his hometown. " . . . Pleasant," he finished lamely.

The woman gave him a strained and confused smile but ushered them into the park nonetheless. Watching the strange trio trudge in through the brick gateway thoughtfully as they passed. They seemed to have a cloud of darkness all of their own hovering over them.

Seras did liven up once they got into the park. The smells of all the food stands and different animals had her sniffing about like a blood hound. And the sounds of laughter and exotic life pricked her ears like no tomorrow. But seeing all the animals awoken a childlike inquisitiveness within her like no other. At every enclosure it was sure to be her face pressed against the glass or between the bars, eagerly watching the wildlife while Integra and Andrews casually stood behind her reading the informative plaques set up for display. But as the day wore on and more and more people flooded into the reserve Seras grew less excited and more stressed. It was one thing to observe the animals in their habitats but another to be squished between the very things she fed off while they shouted in glee and generally made her aware of their existence with their smells and sounds.

As the day wore on Seras would have hoped that Integra or Andrews would say something, complain of aching feet or hunger, but they seemed too engrossed in the animals to notice her plight and rather than being the whiner of the group and ending their fun, Seras opted to go off on her own. She wandered through the park, taking in the scenery and animals calmly while she consciously moved further and further away from the crowd.

When her nose was finally free of the smell of human blood she sat down on a bench. She was shaded by a large oak swaying in the slight breeze and adding to the general silence of that end of the park the soft rustling of its leaves. The heat, minimal due to the lateness of the year, was not so overpowering that she did not enjoy it without the direct sunlight to stab at her skin and eyes. Somewhere in the branches of the oak a bird chirped.

Across from her was a rather inactive enclosure. She could see no animal within it nor the general signs of life that came with one. The chain link fence was vacant of any observers as she was the only one in that particular area of the park, the morning wave of guests having yet to make their way that far, and offered her the perfect view of a crystal clear pond. It was obviously man made but still managed to look elegant and natural in the exhibit. Watching the water move about in the wind, sunlight glistening off the small ripples, lulled her into a state of calm.

Thoughts of Radu, her master, and the possible vampire dictator floated through her mind like the water in front of her; gentle and flowing in mindless directions. Life had become rather dull at Hellsing, she had complained about it often enough, and had admittedly wanted some action. But the awkward situation the trio had found themselves in was not what she had had in mind. Their hands were tied until they heard something from Radu or the Vatican. They could not simply sit around, twiddling their thumbs, waiting for something to happen that they could use as an excuse for action. So they were forced to be active in the most mundane of ways, amusing themselves with touristy attractions, dinners, and parties while they waited in the background. It was frustrating.

She let out a sigh and leaned back against the bench, eyes glued to the water still, and was startled when it rippled. She glanced up and found herself the center of a very curious animal's attention.

Spotted fur, round ears, and blue eyes. Blue as the blue that used to stare back at her from the mirror in the mornings, now overshadowed by bloodlust. The big cat had wondered over to the pond from a little cave out of sight and settled down at the waterside lazily. But as she examined it further she noted the way the fur laid, flat and lackluster, mangy in some places. He was obviously old, maybe sick, if not both. He had not been within that enclosure for long, as it did not have the wear and tear she had noticed in the others. The scent that wafted from him was stale, hinting at human life, and told all the story she needed to know. He had been kept as a pet, locked away in a house, and had never seen the wild as far as she could tell.

He watched her tiredly, tail flicking about in the water thoughtlessly, and let out a bored huff.

"Tell me about it," she muttered in agreement and dropped her head onto the back of the bench with another one of her own sighs. She allowed her mind to wander again, thoughts of her master now taking hold. It had been thirty years since she had last laid eyes on him but it still felt as if he would appear around every corner, grinning at her in demented glee, or wearing that brooding expression she often found him with when he was deep in thought. Every flash of red cloth caught her eye, she did a double take every time she spotted a tall dark figure, and any foreboding presence sent her dead heart beating in excitement. As much as she knew he wanted his own death she felt like he was an essential part of the world. Since he had left everything had seemed so stale and surreal, like the life had been sucked dry of reality, and it left her feeling lost and forlorn. Maybe it was just _her_ world that had needed him.

"I see you've met Aranu."

The voice was light and youthful and jolted Seras from her thoughts like a bucket of water to the face. She had not heard anyone approaching yet there stood a young woman, watching her with a wide grin, and wearing the park uniform proudly.

"Aranu?" she questioned.

"Him," the girl gestured with a thumb over her shoulder to the big cat resting by the water.

"Oh, yes!" Seras lifted a hand to her forehead in a light slap and laughed. "Duh."

"He just got here this week, he's not doing too well though," the girl turned to look at the jaguar worriedly. "His parents were killed when he was a cub and some poachers were keeping him as a pet, feeding him all kinds of junk, we don't know how long he'll last. He's very sick." She continued as she crouched down at the fence to watch the big cat. He turned his head away as if in annoyance at her presence and Seras fought the urge to giggle. Sick and possibly dying he may be but he was certainly still filled with spunk.

"That's horrible, I'm sure he'll pull through," she amended lightly.

The girl gave her a weak smile and a shrug, "I hope so."

The young woman left her with a polite wave then, leaving to her thoughts of the fragileness of mortality and death. It was strange. Seras felt that, as a creature of the wild, animals like Aranu were supposed to represent the vitality and ferocity of life. He represented an immortal image of life. But then, she supposed that she was operating under the assumption that animals were immortal, as she often thought they should be. They were not like humans, creatures of greed and lust and capable of harming others with an intent to cause pain. Creatures like Aranu took what they needed to survive and no more. They deserved to live forever. But instead they were doomed to short lives while monsters like her lurked in the background, drinking the blood of the living, and growing darker and grimmer as time wore on. Observing humanity with a sick sort of glee while they fought and waged wars born into existence by their own meddling. Aranu should not be laying sick and dying in a manmade mockery of the wilds in which he truly belonged, running and hunting, living.

Like her master.

Like her.

Seras sighed and turned her head away as well, so that the two creatures were both looking in the opposite direction, trapped within their own thoughts.

It was some time later that she caught the scent of Andrews and Integra, making their way towards her from far down the walkway and she stood to meet them, stretching for the sake of stretching, before offering a wave to Aranu who had lifted his head upon noticing her movement. She gave him one last look over, feeling the need to burn his image into her mind, before walking over to meet the two humans.

"I was wondering where you had gone off too," Integra said around the cigar between her teeth.

"Too many people," Seras said in way of explanation, waving her hand about in the air haphazardly.

"Right then," Andrews announced, "I presume lunch is in order."

The rest of the day was spent in much the same manner as the day before. The three played the role of tourists, ate lunch at a family owned pub, and shopped through the main district. No souvenirs were actually purchased but they kept up the act while keeping their eyes peeled for anything suspicious that may hint at vampire activity. The Likelihood of finding anything during the day was low but Integra hoped to catch the locals off guard and gain some details on the city's unusual occupants. She questioned the owner of an ice cream shop over a vanilla and cinnamon swirl cone if he had noticed any missing persons. She prodded the girl acting as tour guide for the wax museum if any of their stage coffins had mysteriously vanished. She even interrupted a man who was lecturing a crowd on proper canon firing procedures about whether or not he had ever considered firing silver laced cannons. But they all responded with the same confused stare and lingering glance to Andrews or Seras from over the woman's shoulder. Pleading for help.

The ever approaching dinner with the Pope leered over them like a cloud. Integra was determined to remain focused on the task at hand but Andrews reminded her frequently throughout the day of the event. He seemed to grow more frustrated as time went on but refused to show it. The only way seras could tell was by the spike in his blood pressure. Integra was stubbornly ignoring his reminders and would move on to the next shop, the next person to question, the next building to investigate. All the while the two were left to trail after her like the parents of an excited child. It would seem as if Seras and her had swapped places.

It was when Seras, tired of shopping and sun, decided to take a break in the shade outside of the latest shop that she came across a curious sight. Sitting at a café table across the two lane street sat a rather dazzling man in his thirties. While this would not seem strange at all on any other day, he was an extremely pale person wearing a very old fashion three piece suit, and he was staring directly at her through dark lenses. His hair was like gold silk and hung to his shoulders in elegant waves that bespoke care and vanity. And while this trait was a rather immediate turn off for Seras, who preferred more rugged and wild men, it certainly set off alarm bells.

She stood from her crouched position and brushed off the seat of her long coat. This was her chance to get some decent information rather than the hopeless search that Integra was intent on seeing through until the end. She squared her shoulders and sent an alluring smile his way before crossing the street. She didn't really have any plan in mind but as she crossed the pavement, heels clacking against the stone, she realized she didn't really need one. This was improvisation at its finest. He was obviously a vampire, as was she, and it would not seem strange at all for her to notice him and approach him for casual conversation. Especially if what Radu had said was true. If the town really was filled with vampires readying for their own celebration then she would not seem out of place at all.

The first thing she noticed upon coming closer to the vampire was that he was a schmoozer. He grinned at her in an overconfident and charming way that immediately irritated her. She felt as though he were already looking down at her. At least with Pip he had joked with her as an equal.

"Good morning, my lady," he drawled as she took the seat next to him.

And he was French.

 _"Ugh, don't even think about it,"_ he growled in her mind.

Seras ignored him and responded with a pleasant, "Morning."

"What is a fine woman like yourself doing out at this hour, shouldn't you be in your coffin?" he said, pushing aside the paper he had been pretending to read.

"I could ask you the same thing," she drawled back. She sat in the chair that had been turned away from him so that all he got of her was her profile but she turned her head just so to look at him over the rim of her glasses. Just like her master would.

He shrugged in response, "Sometimes I enjoy watching humanity and remembering what it was like to be one of them . . ."

"I can understand that," Seras agreed thoughtfully, watching as a couple walked by them hand in hand. They were obviously tourists if the huge packs on their backs and wide curious eyes were anything to go by. She watched others pass by, enjoying a moment of silence, before saying "So there it to be quite the celebration Friday . . ."

"Yes, I am quite looking forward to it. It has been so long since I have been to a decent party," he answered conversationally.

"I agree," she lied smoothly, "Ushering in an age of peace will require a big event, big enough to garner attention."

The vampire turned his gaze onto her sternly, "Some of the lower class may see it as that, but I am no fool, an age of peace is the last thing on the high bloods minds."

"Oh?" Seras crooned, lifting an elbow to the table and settling her chin in the palm of her hand. "You think so?"

"I know so," he answered with a chuckle.

She hummed thoughtfully and looked away, feigning disinterest, and was rewarded when he leaned forward earnestly.

"Rumor has it that Flagler has something dark hidden away in his basement, waiting to be revealed-." He was cut off, however, from continuing his delectable supply of information.

Her phone rang from her pocket, the buzzing alerting the two occupants at the table that she had a call, and she fumbled to pull it out, her character momentarily broken. She glanced at the caller idea before lifting it her ear. "Hello?"

"Where are you?" Integra's voice filtered through the connection. She sounded irritated but Seras blamed it on the slowly rising temperatures as the day wore on and her failure at scrounging up anything useful to help them along.

"Across the street, I'll be right there," she answered coolly and hung up before Integra could respond. She could see her in her minds eyes staring at the phone in stunned surprise before being overcome by intense anger. "It seems I am needed elsewhere," she answered the questioning look the vampire sent her. She stood with a tired sigh, "It was nice speaking with you . . ." she trailed off.

"Lestat," he provided.

"Sarah," she said with a smile.

And like that she was gone, disappearing into the crowd, and making her way back to her boss and friend while Lestat was left to ponder the event on his own.

She grinned to herself as she walked. She had just hit the goldmine of information and had even gotten his name out of him for later use. She slid her hands into her pockets and crossed the street at a brisk pace, returning to the shop, and turning down a side street where she could just make out Integra's platinum blonde and silver hair shining in the sunlight. Her ice blue eyes picked her out in the crowd and zeroed in on her with the intense rage that she had imagined moments ago but she could not keep the smile off her face as she met her in the street. They stood facing each other like two combatants ready for battle.

"You hung up on me," Integra said simply.

"I did," Seras admitted sheepishly.

"Why?" Integra demanded.

"I was getting information," Seras explained proudly.

"Oh?"

"Yes."

Andrews watched from the sidelines bemusedly. The two women were drawing the crowd's attention with how they stood facing each other stiffly, unmoving in the throngs of people forced to part around them, and he was concerned of Seras divulging her 'information' in the midst of it all.

"Let's take this back to our hotel, shall we?" he interrupted politely. "Need I remind you that dinner with the Pope is in two hours," he reminded again, hopeful Integra would heed his words this time.


	5. Say that again?

"Flagler?"

"Yes, that's what he said."

Integra hummed in thought, eyeing the draculina from over her desk. They had returned to the hotel room after the gentle needling of Andrews, stewing in their thoughts the entire walk, and had reclaimed their usual spots within the sitting room without another word. Integra had let out a tired sigh, exhausted from a day of walking about in the sun, and felt a twinge of pity for the vampire sitting across from her. Seras still looked as well kept as ever but her complexion had taken on a paler and more waxy appearance and her eyes seemed much duller than usual. She would no doubt need a nap and another serving of blood to perk herself back up. Integra only wished they had thought to bring her coffin along but since she had been drinking blood of her own free will it had not been a necessity for many years.

" _The_ Flagler?" Andrews reiterated curiously. He served Integra a cup of tea while the three spoke.

"I would assume so," Seras answered with a nod. "He said that Flagler had something dark tucked away in his basement so I would think he was residing in a big building, somewhere big enough to hold a ball, and somewhere with his name on it."

"That would point to Flagler College then, it used to be a hotel," Andrews muttered thoughtfully. He moved away from Integra and her steaming cup of tea and towards the small kitchenette to prepare a cup of blood for the vampire.

"Yes well, be that as it may, we have no way of knowing without sticking our nose where it does not belong and in order to remain auspicious than we would have to restrict our searches to the daylight hours," Integra growled around her cigar. "Which means we will find nothing there. Nothing!" She tapped a finger on the desktop irritably.

"We still have Radu," Seras spoke up from her seat across the room.

"For what he's worth," Integra muttered. "I don't trust him as far as I can throw him and considering my age that is not very far."

"Don't worry Sir, I'll figure him out," Seras placated the woman with a smile.

Integra grunted in answer and took a sip of her tea.

"That is all well and good," Andrews called as he approached the vampire with a warm mug of her own beverage, "But you have a little over an hour before you are required to be at the Lightner museum for dinner with the Pope and I will not have you turning up there looking as you do."

"What's wrong with the way I look?" Integra snapped, setting her cup down delicately despite the annoyance written across her face.

"Nothing," Andrews responded coolie, "But you hair could use a good brushing and there is a smudge of dirt across the bridge of your nose, and didn't you spill coffee on that shirt earlier today?" He spoke to Integra even as he handed Seras her drink and returned the small serving tray to the kitchenette.

"Would you care to repeat yourself," Integra said in a threatening tone.

Seras knew that tone well and wisely took her cup with her to her own room where she could finish it off before taking a short nap. As she pulled the door shut behind her she heard Andrews reply with: "Not in the slightest Sir" along with the clinking of the tea cup being removed from the desk top and taken to the sink to be cleaned. Integra only sighed.

She always loved those short random moments that demonstrated a person's character and relationship to others. It was something that she had paid attention to even as a human.

She gulped down the rest of her blood before setting the cup down on the nightstand and throwing herself into the bed. It was pretty soft for a hotel bed and she was pleased to return to it once more. Now that she had slept on a better bed she would have to go about asking Integra to get her a nice one for her own room. The mattress in her coffin was a bit on the stiff side.

While Seras napped Integra went about tiding herself up, brushing her hair out at the vanity in her room while she thought over the information Seras had gathered. The vampire was either Flagler himself or a relative, he was no doubt hiding out in the basement of Flagler College, and he was preparing to hold a celebration marking the beginning of a new era the same day as St. Augustine's four hundred and sixty fifth birthday. His motives were questionable and they had learned that there was a definite possibility of a darker secret locked away waiting to be exhumed during the party or sometime after. Radu had higher hopes than their new vampire friend they had met off the streets.

Above all she was curious to learn of the hierarchy he had mentioned: high bloods. And now that she thought about Radu himself had mentioned something about Old Bloods. Were they the same?

Not for the first time she wished her servant was around so she could extrapolate information from him. It was always difficult getting anything useful out of him but she felt that over the years she had rather become an expert at it. Pity she couldn't test out her theory until he returned.

She sighed and set the brush down on the vanity before standing and getting dressed in a more figure flattering pantsuit. Black and white of course. She did not bother checking herself in the mirror before stepping out to join Andrews in the sitting room. She glanced at the phone on the desk, wondering for the hundredth time if she should call the manor and fill them in on the events. She moved over to the desk and sat down in front of her laptop, settling for sending an email instead, and booted up the computer while Andrews adjusted his suit jacket just behind her. As usual he stood by her side, patiently, awaiting orders.

Seras returned to the land of the living shortly after, stepping out from her room in her Hellsing uniform, and gave the two a curt nod. She looked much better having rested and even the glow in her eyes had returned.

"We should be on our way then," Andrews remarked.

Integra let out one final sigh before standing, having sent off her email, and shut her laptop. "Let's get this over with," she grouched and headed for the door with a determined stride easily matched by Andrews.

Seras let out a nervous chuckle and followed the two out, sending one last look back at their hotel room before shutting the door behind her. She had felt the barest of auras brush her senses before leaving but she paid it no mind, it felt incredibly familiar and comforting so she assumed it was Radu himself snooping about as his brother often did. She resisted the urge to laugh and hurried after the two humans who had already reached the stairs ahead of her.

Andrews looked much more like himself in a full three piece suit, leading the way and holding the doors open for them. They wondered out onto the street and around the corner to the car garage where the women waited while the butler retrieved the vehicle and pulled up next to them. Integra slid into the back with Seras following behind her.

The two would not be joining the heiress in her dinner with the Pope, rather, they were to act as her escort and guards. She was to spend the evening with the Pope alone but they had no doubt his own guards would be present as well so Seras had opted to wear her uniform to remain professional. . . As professional as she could in a skirt and combat boots anyways.

The car ride was short but tense. The dinner was to be held at the Lightner Museum, the same building the grand ball would be held in later that week, and it was reserved for just them that night. As such they had to drive about a mile all in all, but Andrews had demanded they appear as grandiosely as possible to uphold the Hellsing name and Integra had not the mind to argue with him.

Seras was just glad that the sun was finally sinking below the horizon when they arrived. Walking around during the day was wearing on her horribly and nothing would put her back to one-hundred percent except a nice long days sleep in her coffin.

Seras stepped out of the car first after Walter had pulled to a stop on the side street and held the door for Integra to climb out. Once her boss was safely out of the way she shut the door and stepped aside, allowing the woman to lead the way while Andrews parked the car and caught up to them.

Sure enough as they approached Seras spotted several of the Iscariots standing guard around the huge building spanning one whole block. Directly across the street sat Flagler College, looking innocent and magnificent in the sinking sunlight. The clock tower chimed away, marking the hour, and sung a sweet but sad song.

Integra marched through the archways of the old hotel, ignoring the guards as she went, and into the courtyard while the two trailed behind her. When they finally entered the building through an ornate glass panned door they were met by a butler of some sort who bowed upon their approach.

"This way," he gestured and led them through a gift shop, up a set of small stairs, and into a large display room filled with Victorian artwork and glass. Above them was a third floor open in the center, allowing people from above to view the room below. Their feet clacked against the white marble as they traveled but they were soon muffled by the thick carpet of a grand staircase leading down into what once was the pool, now filled in, and altered into a high class restaurant smack dap in the middle of the old hotel.

Seras and Andrews stopped at the stair case, nodding to Integra dutifully, and watched her continue on with the unfamiliar butler. She stepped into the large open room and the doors were shut behind her leaving her two employees to stand watch for any danger.

Seras let out a sigh at the rather abrupt cut off and glanced over at Andrews who had taken up post off to the side of one of the double doors, following his example she stood at the other quietly. There were no Iscariots in sight, the room bare of their black robes, but they both new they lurked about the outskirts of the building and no doubt had tabs on the two themselves.

Andrews sent her a reassuring smile from the corner of his eye and she straightened.

"Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing."

Integra took in the grand lit room, far above her she could just see the railings of the third floor and ballroom. The second floor was nothing but closed off sitting rooms and bedrooms, and the first floor itself was filled with candlelit tables and a grand piano off to the side. Across the way was a set of double doors leading into the kitchen where she could just make out the movement of the wait staff and cooks preparing their meal. And in the midst of it all sat an aged man wearing a white shirt and black slacks.

"No robes?" Integra voiced her thoughts dryly with a quirked brow as she approached. How unusual for the Pope not to wear his white cassock in public.

The Pope laughed and stood, gesturing for her to take the seat proffered to her by the butler who had pulled it out upon arrival, "I am not here before you as The Pope but a fellow leader of an organization intent on ridding the world of darkness. I dressed to match." He explained it all away with an amused voice and waited until she herself had taken a seat before reclaiming his own.

"How humble and thoughtful," Integra muttered. She settled herself in the chair, adjusting her jacket just so, and reminded herself to be on her best behavior. This was meant to be a meeting in which they discussed a future of friendship. Or something like that. She closed her eyes for a second while Pope Francis sat down.

"It is good to finally meet you in person. Integra Hellsing," he began pleasantly. "I have no doubt that you know all there is to know about me thanks to the media but as your organization is one that dwells in secrecy I know very little about you other than what I've learned from the Iscariot."

"It is an honor," she responded politely. She had leaned back in her chair and crossed one leg over the other, clasping her hands in her lap, and given him her undivided attention.

He watched her for a moment through the lenses of his glasses before shifting suddenly and began in another direction, "Now I invited you here to offer a hand of peace and friendship, one that I know you would not normally take willingly, but I hope you will accept nonetheless." He watched her thoughtfully, admiring the excellent poker face she managed to maintain and could not help but think of his younger years when the thought of vampires and monsters had been laughable. But as he grew he began to hear more and more of the horrors that plagued the Earth. He had been let in on the secret late in life and yet the woman sitting in front of him had been born directly into the center of it all. She had never known a normal life. From the day of her birth she had been groomed to take over the Hellsing Organization and lead its soldiers on the front lines with a monster leashed at her side. She had done remarkably well, he thought, and had grown into a very powerful and intimidating figure. She stared at him now, dauntless and without fear or insecurities, and offered him the barest amount of respect. Something he found refreshing in his current position. This woman did not look at him as The Pope, religious leader and figure head, but as a simple man who had to earn her trust. "Do you know why I have come to this decision?" he asked, hoping to break her resolute façade.

"Why?" she asked simply.

He remained silent for a moment before continuing, "I believe the world is about to shift."

This caused Integra to lift her brows a fraction, her suspicions wavering, and wonder if he knew of the vampires roosting within St. Augustine.

"After the attack on the world thirty years ago there was little hope in hiding the existence of monsters, man made or not, and this awoken people to the true darkness of the world," he said, leaning forward on his elbows. "But I believe that the world is changing for the better. With the known existence of monsters other things have become insignificant: gender, race, sexuality, how often do you see news articles on disagreements regarding those these days?" he asked. "None!"

Integra leaned forward, lifting a hand to her chin in thought, it was true. But she remained silent in her realization and instead continued to listen as The Pope spoke.

"The time for petty squabbles has long since passed, let us unite against these monsters and finally beat back the darkness once and for all, together," he exclaimed.

Integra eyed him silently, rubbing at her chin, debating on whether she should let him in on the secret that was Flagler and his own attempt at ushering in a new era. The Vatican would no doubt take action immediately. Unlike Hellsing they had some order of pull within St. Augustine, a city recreated by the Catholics centuries ago. The Pope and King of Spain were here to celebrate its anniversary after all. While she thought and the Pope watched her with his own form of a poker face, a server appeared with salads and set them before the two before disappearing behind the double doors again. Barely a hint of steam escaped the double doors so quick was he. She eyed the greenery thoughtfully before speaking.

"That was a beautiful speech, Pope Francis, a little on the whimsical side but even I admit humanity needs a bit of whimsy every now and then." She lifted the fork set out next to her dish and stabbed at a cluster of lettuce absently. "What do you know of recent vampire activity?" she asked in a curiously light tone.

"There have been squabbles here and there, after the attack on London many were able to escape and are no doubt still on the run, but I feel that as a whole they are on the decline," he answered truthfully. He too lifted a fork while they spoke.

Integra nodded once, as if confirming what she had originally thought, and set her fork down, steepling her fingers in front of her. "There are a few mistakes in your answer," she said lightly, having yet met his eyes since she had first spoken.

"Was there?" he urged her, wanting to learn and understand her world a bit more.

"You assume that the creatures that attacked London were vampires," she stated simply. "They were not. They were nothing but common trash."

"Common trash?" Pope Francis questioned in surprise, stunned by her change in manner, and the intensity with which she now stared at him.

"A true Nosferatu is something you personally have never faced, of that I am certain, for the past thirty years they have been in hiding after the death of their supposed king and before that they were more inclined to sit back and watch as the world slowly fell into chaos without them even lifting a finger." She chose her words carefully and watched as the old man processed what she said with a rather befuddled expression. She had to give it to him though, despite how blatantly rude she had been to him thus far, he still retained his pleasant demeanor. This forced her to, not wholly trust him, but give him a bit of her hard earned respect. He seemed open to learning and understanding the Hellsing side of things which was more than a bit refreshing.

"Their king?" he said, voice strained with dread and curiosity.

"Yes, the monster I usually keep chained up in my basement: Alucard, formally known as Prince Vlad Dracula III." She answered lightly, leaning back in her seat with her arms crossed.

"I beg your pardon?" The Pope fumbled for a response, astounded by her words and the meaning they held. Dracula himself was the vampire they had been using as an attack dog? How on Earth did they manage to control such a monster?

"The world is filled with the immortal souls of the damned and we are the wolves that hunt them down, Pope Francis," Integra explained. "True vampires are creatures far older than you can imagine, for more powerful than you would think possible, and they are so much deeper than humans. They are complex and hard to understand and they haunt this Earth in search of something that will fill the voids of their missing souls." She prodded a bit of her salad, lifting the bite into the air before her and smiled, "I would love to accept your hand of friendship."

The Pope leaned back in his chair, feeling emotionally drained just from her small rant, and eyed her wolfish smile wearily through a calm façade. If he wasn't careful he felt she would turn around and bite his proffered hand of peace without a second thought. As was the nature of wild wolves.

Seras had always been a bit on the fidgety side. She was young, even as a vampire, and that meant she was full of energy and curiosity. It had not been at all out of character for her to run ahead, recklessly, and cause trouble when she had first joined Hellsing. Her master had always been more than happy to allow her to indulge in her inquisitiveness, especially if she got hurt because of it, he took extreme delight in her discomfort. She had once poked at a ghoul, thinking it long since dead, and nearly lost her throat when it sprung up at her gnashing its teeth. Her master had laughed heartily at her hysteria.

Now, after thirty years of hard learned lessons, she had begun to garner a more level headed approach to situations. But that didn't mean she didn't get antsy every now and then. She could walk around the city sightseeing with Integra all day but standing at that door patiently waiting for the woman to finish up her meeting with The Pope was driving her up the wall. Literally. She was pacing the wall.

Andrews seem unperturbed by the odd display, her act of defying gravity clearly one he had witnessed before, and remained at his post steadfast.

She was tempted to explore the old hotel. The grand staircase they stood in front of was well carpeted and smelled like wood, stale cigarettes, and that strange scent the bespoke antiqueness. She wondered if the rest of the building was in the same condition. She paused on the wall, twiddling her fingers in thought, and shot a look over her should to Andrews.

"Miss Seras," he acknowledged somewhat tiredly, growing irritated with her pacing.

"Nothing," she said, frustration rearing its ugly head.

It was a beautiful night. She could feel it through the walls themselves. And the fresh air that seeped in through the windows was so tempting. She let out another sigh and dropped back down to the floor, straightening her skirt as she did so, and returned to her post next to Andrews in thought. She felt like a wild animal behind the bars of a cage, pacing out of frustration and boredom. If they really wanted some more information the best time to go out searching for it was night, when there would be vampires out without a doubt, she could probably go back to the restaurant and scrounge up some more intel on her own. Maybe she could even go about searching out Radu and see if he had found anything out since the night before. He seemed to be an honest person, if a bit kindhearted for a vampire, but she was certain he would help them out.

While her thoughts spun round and round in her head, leaving her looking pensive and moody, Andrews suffered through the silence eloquently. His gaze did not waiver from the vase across the room in front of him. But as time ticked by Seras's mood invaded more and more of his space, and he let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Just go, Seras, nothing will happen here tonight. Not with the Iscariot prowling the property anyways," Andrews spoke up.

Seras jumped in surprise, having not expected him to speak, and stared at him blankly for some time before what he had said processed. "Are you sure?" she asked, glancing back at the door nervously. She didn't want to leave if Integra expected her to stay, she could imagine the woman's ire at discovering her absence.

"I am sure," Andrews answered with a chuckle. She was such a meek creature at times, it was hard to believe that she was the same ferocious monster on the battlefield, ripping apart enemies limb from limb with a sadistic grin.

"Well, alright," she stepped away from the door, "Just be careful and if anything suspicious happens call me." She gave him a smile and a brief wave before, acknowledging his own curt nod in response, before climbing back up the stairs and towards the exit. The museum was silent as she traversed it on her own, the air heavy with the stillness not felt during business hours, and it forced her to move as quietly as she could for fear of disturbing it. As she moved down the staircase leading into the gift shop, its short width speaking for the servants that had used it in the past to travel from floor to floor while avoiding the public eye, reminded her of her old home. The green carpet under her boots was thick and plush, having been replaced not long ago, and the walls were painted white and bare of any hangings. It was such a strange vibe for a now public building that she could imagine a person actually living in it and resisted the urge to feel guilty for no doubt tracking dirt through it.

She passed through the vacant gift shop and out into the open air through the ornate glass doors. She glanced around the courtyard before stepping into it and meandering along the walkway around the center in which a large pond had been built. Her keen eyes, glowing in the darkness, noted the large multicolored shapes fliting about under the water's surface curiously. The koi were all at least a foot in length and clearly had some good years on them.

She sniffed the air, scenting only the Iscariots in the immediate vicinity, and cocked her head in thought. She had planned on using the night to search out more information, perhaps another vampire, but the koi pond had reminded her of something else. She had the rest of the night to work, but first, she wanted to pay a visit to a new friend.

Seras arrived at the wild life preserve long after the park had closed for the night. There was not a person in sight and the majority of the animals were quiet as she climbed down from the fence. She could hear the crickets chirping away in the trees, singing their songs cheerily, soothing the other animals unintentionally with their soft soundtrack. Her boots hit the ground quietly, gravel crunching under the souls, and she glanced about the open walkway warily. The benches were bare of any occupants and the pathway lights, lined up along the cement sidewalks, were set to their dimmest. Somewhere in the distance an exotic bird cawed.

She took in a deep breath of the humid air and wondered off down the path she knew would take her back to the enclosures far out of the way of the general public. Sneaking about sent a little thrill of pleasure through her, knowing that there were no vampires she had to deal with just then, made the experience lighthearted.

She slowed at the sight of the familiar exhibit, coming to a stop at the fence where she had sat hours before, and squinted around the chain links. The jungle cat would no doubt be asleep at the time but something within her told her otherwise. She crouched down and let out a short whistle. The sudden sound in the night silenced the crickets for a moment and she heard only the distant hum of generators before they picked up again. The enclosure remained undisturbed. She saw no movement and wondered if the animals were locked away at night. She felt rather silly then, having snuck into the park for a friendly visit only to realize she couldn't see him. But shortly after having thought that she caught movement amongst the bushes in the far corner. A splash of blue and a flurry of yellow made her aware of his presence before the big cat slunk into view lazily, recognizing her from earlier, and padded up to the fence to sniff at her.

"Hello," she whispered with a smile.

The jaguar snorted in response, nosing the fence in front of her, and she giggled.

"How are you?" she asked. She lifted a finger and wiggled it between the fence, letting him smell her, before tickling him under his chin.

He rumbled a purr deep in his chest and she continued to pet him with a finger while she pondered his predicament. He was sick, possibly dying, and stuck in a cage. Despite the fact that he was a powerful creature she felt so much pity for him, never having had the chance to run wild. He had been a pet for all his life and the realization sickened her. She could sympathize with him a little as her own master had been degraded to nothing but a servant during his existence. There was so much of the world that Aranu had never seen, experienced, and she felt helpless at the thought.

She glanced up at the fence and wondered for the first time why she had automatically seen it as a barrier to keep her, as a person, safe from a supposedly wild animal. The fences were there to protect humans, not monsters like her. She stood, pulling her fingers out of the fence, and caused the cat to lift his head from where he had laid down to enjoy the attention.

"I'm not going anywhere," she assured him quietly and reached for the top of the fence, jumped, and hoisted herself over. She dropped to the ground next to the cat and settled back against the fence with a sigh.

Aranu crawled forward and settled his head onto the edge of her leg, causing her to chuckle, and snorted again. He was demanding her attention it would seem and she was loathe to ignore the creature. Obligingly, she continued to scratch him, this time behind the ears.

Aranu provided excellent company and with nothing better to do she decided to talk to him. She told him of her past life, her work in the police force, and the few friends and family she had had left before her death. She explained in detail the night she had first met her master and all that it had led up to. It was more for a cathartic sense than anything else, she soon realized, as she had never gotten the chance to tell anybody her full story from a new perspective. She painted a rather detailed picture of the Hellsing organization but it did not compare to what she told the creature of her master. She told Aranu all the moments she had caught him grinning like a fool, when she had first scene him with tears in his eyes one night, and when he had first shown her true kindness. Of the struggles he had known in life and his deepest desire to finally pass on. She pondered out loud what his kingdom had been like, the people he had known and counted as friends, and where he was at that particular moment . . . because, she assured the jaguar, he was most definitely alive. She continued to talk for such a length of time that she could feel her throat grow dry and scratchy but Aranu's attention never wavered. He watched her with a childlike curiosity that spoke of a deep intelligence.

"And he always calls me Police Girl, never anything else," she added after a moments silence. "Even after I drank blood he still slapped me with that god awful nickname every chance he got. And now Integra even calls me that though I think it's just to annoy me more than anything."

Aranu huffed in agreement.

"What a lovely couple."

The new voice caused the two to look to their right where the shadows of a tree had grown into a cluster of roiling waves of darkness. A pair of red eyes pierced through it all, watching them intently.

Aranu growled, a sound Seras found oddly thrilling in the way a person could enjoy the rumble of a powerful engine, and tensed under her hands. She smoothed the fur on his neck down and lifted her gaze back to the red orbs watching her intently.

"You're not very frightening Radu," she called.

The shadows settled and the vampire stepped out from under the tree wearing a pleasant smile. He was clothed in the same suit though he was missing his tie, she noted. He did not seemed perturbed by her statement in the least as he moved over to her and sat on a conveniently placed boulder just feet from where the two rested.

"I never pegged you as a cat person," he commented after settling atop the rock with his hands in his pockets.

"I'm not really," Seras admitted distractedly. "Are you alright?" she asked. From afar he had looked his usual self but as he approached she noticed that he looked haggard and his clothes did not fit him as well as they had the previous night. That kind of deterioration she herself had experienced after a month in the field without her coffin months after the London Attack. She had been confused, depressed, and had hesitated on drinking blood because of conflicting thoughts and emotions. That had been the "Trash Sweep" as her men had so eloquently put it. Hellsing had rushed to hire more men after the defeat of The Wild Geese and sent them out to search and destroy. They had chased down any escaping FREAKS with a vengeance unknown to the trash vampires, spending days on end hunting them out with little remorse, as most of those men had been survivors of the terrorist attack. They had lost friends and family in the destruction and the thought of gutting some of the weakened monsters had sent them into a blood rage rivaling Seras's. She had led them in the charge and though the men were good backup they simply could not compete against the inhuman abilities that the FREAKS possessed and it had been up to Seras to star in the slaughter. So the "Trash Sweep" was mainly a splatter fest of gore and blood constructed by Seras herself while they covered her back with silver bullets. When she had finally returned to the manor she had collapsed in her coffin and slept the rest of the week away. Integra herself had monitored her blood intake as they had yet to find a suitable replacement for Walter.

"I'm the picture of health," he answered, brushing her questioned aside like an annoying gnat. But his brows crinkled in such a fashion, one that she had rarely if ever seen on his brother, and he let out a frustrated sigh.

"If you say so," she mumbled awkwardly and dropped her eyes to the animal who's head stilled rested in her lap. Aranu had calmed down after Radu had revealed himself and she had absently continued her ministrations.

Radu's eyes followed hers and they shared a moment of companionable silence, both aware that something was wrong, but both allowing the problem to slide for the moment. "He is dying," he observed moments later, having noted the jaguar's failing health.

"I know," Seras said quietly.

"Why not end his suffering then?" Radu asked softly, his eyes following her hand as it ruffled the big cats fur and smoothed it down. Seras did not immediately respond and Radu waited patiently for her to gather her thoughts before glancing at her face, upon realizing her hand had stilled, and froze as well. Big fat red tears welled up in her eyes and spilled out over her cheeks and she was staring at him as if he had personally crouched down and drove his hand through the jaguar's chest.

"I could never do that to him, he's fought so hard! To have it all taken from him out of pity . . ." she trailed off, unable to control her voice and so opted to fall silent instead. She watched as the younger brother of her master stared at her strangely before cracking a smile and breaking into a peel of laughter so warm that, had the situation been any different, she would have enjoyed hearing.

"I meant for you to take his life, to drink him, and immortalize his soul within you. Not kill him!" he clarified through his chuckles. The fact that she had immediately fallen into hysterics upon the thought of killing an animal truly said a lot about her soul, or lack thereof, so much so that he found himself sobering and giving her a kinder smile. "You are still so human," he murmured.

Seras dropped her gaze to her lap immediately upon realizing her mistake. The shame that welled up within her for having doubted him so quickly was nearly suffocating. He was her master's brother, and though that did not say much about his character considering how sadistic his brother was, she still felt obligated to be a bit more trusting. But then, she had always been one to jump to conclusions. The memory of her master crouched in front of a dog, dying after having been caught in the line of fire during an excursion to a remote town to kill off a vampire, mumbling quite words in another language invaded her mind and she wiped at her eyes thoughtfully. It was people that he disliked. Not the true innocents of the world. He despised men, barely tolerated women, and ignored children . . . but the animals? Well, he had spoken soft words to them in his native tongue. Something that she had never heard directed to herself, not even Integra had, and the realization soothed her soul in a deep and therapeutic way. He was not a demon, she realized, because he had reasoning behind his hatred and it was not directed at the innocents.

"I know," she muttered and returned to smoothing out the fur over the top of Aranu's head. She looked up to Radu, "I'll only do it if he wants me to."

"Then ask him," Radu answered with a shrug. "Most creatures are able to understand our emotions. I'm sure if you ask him he will agree. He seems to like you well enough."

Seras hummed in thought and looked down at the jaguar, "Aranu," she called, gaining the cat's attention. "Would you like to stay with me?" she asked, staring into his blue eyes that looked back at her questioningly. The realization that, if he agreed, he would not know quite what he was getting himself into crossed her mind. She herself had dealt with a similar situation after all and she wished not to frighten him. "If you agree I'll have to drink your blood and you'll die, but you'll be a part of me forever, and you can meet all the other souls . . ." she rambled on, explaining the whole process to the clueless animal who felt inclined to listen despite the lack of his understanding.

Radu watched on with a long suffering expression mixed with a good amount of mirth. The poor creature was clueless, they both were, he corrected himself and chuckled.

As Radu expected, the jaguar had laid his head down patiently for Seras to drink his blood. He was so miserable that any chance of escape seemed brighter than any future wasting away behind a fence. Seras had stalled for more time, petting him comfortingly while she continued talking to the cat in low soft tones, and given him a strange look from the corner of her eye. Radu had cleared his throat and obligingly turned away to give the two privacy, moving over to another corner of the enclosure well out of sight. It was common decency to look away as another ended someone's life and he would have been the first to say so in any other situation but Seras had a strange effect on him. Aside from himself she was the only blood relative of his brother, whom he had looked at as a role model for as long as he could remember, and seeing her in the flesh, thriving, was heartwarming. Though his heart had naturally stopped beating centuries ago.

He stared down at the little pond, leaves floating about the surface serenely, and felt the monstrous aura of a feeding vampire sweep over him. He lifted his face to the moon and let out a sigh. The air had grown heavy with her presence and he waited until it died away to return to the scene.

Seras had not moved and still cradled the now still form of Aranu, lifeless. She stared down at the body but a small smile adorned her face and he knew that she was feeling the jaguar's presence within her. It would join amongst the other souls within her and become an ingrained part of her very being. Something Radu himself had always found oddly poetic for creatures such as themselves. He continued to watch her for a few moments before stepping up to her an offering a hand, "Come, Seras, why don't we go for a walk?"

"Sure," she said, taking his hand and using it to pull herself to her feet. She had set Aranu's head down on the ground and given it one more final pat before standing. She brushed off the seat of her skirt and together they hopped the fence and wondered back through the park, leaving the body of Aranu to be found later by the park staff who would find the bite wound on his neck. Nothing more would be said on the subject, however, as there were dark suspicions circulating the town in regards to their newest visitors.

"You look good in uniform," Radu commented.

"None of that," Seras snarked back, all too aware of the smile the vampire was wearing.

The city had grown quiet by the time they returned to the main streets. Tourists had returned to their hotel rooms and the hard workers had closed up shop and started wiping down the counters as they padded down the road of the shopping district. The traveled in silence, both caught up within their own thoughts, and neither feeling the need to break it. But now that they had arrived within the populated area once more Seras was reminded of the job she had and so she sent a curious glance to Radu who was peering through every window they passed.

"Did you find anything out?" she said, breaking the quiet between them like so much glass. He seemed to stiffen, growing tense for a moment, before he let out a sigh and gave her a sidelong look.

"Not much, and for what little I did I paid a heavy price for," he muttered darkly.

"What do you mean?" Seras questioned wearily with more than a bit of concern lacing her voice.

"I did some snooping as instructed by Sir Integra herself," he began heavily. "I made it all the way down to the basement, which had the time had been vacant, and was peeking in through a door in the far back . . ." he trailed off, watching as a cat scampered across the road in front of their path.

"What was down there?" she asked quietly. Drawing his attention back to her.

Radu did not answer immediately, he hunched his shoulders and shoved his hands deep into his pockets and looked for all the world like a distraught young man worried about normal things, but he bit his lip and she caught sight of a single fang peeking out at the corner of his mouth. "There were hundreds of ghouls packed away in there, all huddled together and waiting for something, I don't know what, but I can guess," he muttered darkly. The betrayal and guilt that wracked his body was obvious. His brows had scrunched together in disgust at his own blindness. "Needless to say my snooping did not go unnoticed and someone I would rather avoid found me." He rubbed at his neck and fell silent once again.

Seras watched him in worriedly for a moment before dropping her gaze to her feet in thought. An army of ghouls? She could only imagine what it was leading to. A grand party taking place that Friday to introduce vampires to the world? Supposedly to establish and era of peace? Sounded to her like it was more of a takeover than anything else. And Radu had gotten caught on top of it. Was he in danger? He had obviously suffered the night before despite his attempt at covering it up. She was tempted to return to Integra and warn her but she hesitated, Integra would only fly off the handle and attempt to storm the college on her own, the thought was both amusing and worrying. She would wait until day break, when the woman had had a chance to relax after her meeting with the Pope, they had until Friday before Flagler made a move anyways. She filed away the information and instead turned to a lighter topic in hopes of easing the negative emotions radiating from Radu.

"What was master like as a human?" she blurted.

Radu gave her such a startled look that she could not resist a laugh. He took a moment to gather his thoughts, smiling at nothing as he did, before giving her a response. "He was the biggest trouble maker there ever was," he began with a laugh. "He always had these grand schemes as a child, things that would no doubt earn us a beating, but he always dragged me along with him. I always tried to dissuade him but he would never listen to reason."

"How so?" she prompted with a grin, delighted at his change of heart . . . and the prospect of getting dirt on her master.

"Hmm," he hummed in thought, searching through his vast collections of memories before deciding on one with a chuckle. "When were political hostages, we were kept in a grand and lavish room, if we behaved they gave us whatever we asked for – within reason mind you – but for Vlad that was never enough."

They passed by a bar, doors open, and the sound of a few straggling guests hoping for another drink flouted out to them. But the people inside were ignorant to the monsters passing by their door.

"Well, I had made the mistake of mentioning my want to go for a swim," Radu continued with a huff of laughter. "So one night he wakes me up, forces me into some clothes, and whisks me out the window and into the night. I felt like I had been spirited away! And we make it all the way down to this lake that was deep into the woods where he commanded me to undress and swim with him. Naturally I did as he said all the while moaning and groaning about how much trouble we would get in. It was fun. We must have swam about for hours before the guards noticed we were missing. We didn't know they were close until we heard them tramping through the woods, cursing up a storm in their tongue, and we were forced to run. Mind you, we didn't have time to pull our clothes back on," he added the last part with a roguish grin that left Seras in a fit of peeling laughter. "So there we were, running through the woods, naked and freezing our backsides off. We snuck back into the castle, got back to our room, and changed into our night clothes just as a storm of guards come sweeping in. They followed the water from the front door all the way up to our room where we were still wet and shivering despite the warmth of the fire in our room."

Seras laughed and Radu joined in with her, holding his stomach with the force of it, and continued to tell her stories from their past as they walked. It was such a lighthearted moment, rare for those creatures of the night, that Radu found himself wishing it would never end. Seras had yet to be touched by the darkness of their existence, or at least, she refused to let it affect her like it so often did to others. He could look at her and see the sun, the flowers, and hear the laughter of happy people. He smiled at her while he spoke and for that short moment he could imagine that he had lived a life of happiness

"He used to have an imaginary friend," Radu added after a moment of quiet. He had remembered the fact so suddenly that he blurted it out with little thought, startling Seras. "What did he call him?" he mumbled with a finger to his chin. "Marcellus, he called him Marcellus the Mouse!"

"A mouse?" she snorted.

"Yes, and he pretended that he sat on his shoulder and whispered to him during lessons or while we were playing. 'Marcellus said you cheated'," he mimicked a younger Romanian lilt that Seras had never had the privilege of hearing. "A game was never fair with him, if you outwitted him then it had to be because you cheated."

"That sounds like something he would do, he's always had a childish side to him, always looking for something to amuse him," Seras said through her laughter.

"How was he, before he . . ." Radu trailed off, looking as if he were struggling to find the correct word.

Seras turned her eyes away from him and looked on ahead, "I think he was depressed. He was always brooding, only ever coming out when there was a job to do. And when he disappeared he was wearing such a peaceful expression . . ." she smiled sadly at the memory. "I don't even know why he changed me . . ." she shook her head, pulling herself from her thoughts and let out a sigh.

"Sounds like a lot has changed," Radu mumbled.

"Immortality will do that to a person," Seras agreed quietly.

They continued to walk down the darker streets of the city, passed the older houses and ancient alleyways. The night was now silent around them having left the main streets. Seras looked up at the sky, blocked out by the massive trees lining the road, but paused when she noticed that Radu was not at her side. She turned back, seeing him standing at the fence of the old cemetery they had been passing by, staring off into the darkness warily.

"What is it?" she whispered, moving back towards him quickly. The expression he wore was one of curious urgency and it put her on edge immediately as she had never seen him look such a way. She had not known him for long, true, but he was obviously a person well versed in the art of hiding his thoughts and anything that had him worried spiked panic within her.

"We have company of the hungry for flesh sort," Radu growled.

"What?" she squawked.

"This is politics, pure politics," Radu snapped. "Flagler knows I've been snooping and this is his way of warning me."

Seras stepped up to the fence, pressing her face against the bars, and squinted into the darkness. The sight that awaited her was truly one straight out of a horror movie. If she had not been used to such a thing already she would have screamed in terror.

Several ghouls, numbering in the twenties, were seen shambling about further in the cemetery. That in itself would not have been that alarming but a few of them were crouched over the remains of several bodies, most likely of the younger generation if the skate board and alcohol bottles was anything to go by. They had apparently been out sneaking around in hopes of causing mischief and had run into a bit more trouble than they could handle. They had bit off more than they could chew. There had clearly been a struggle, bodies were splayed about in their death throws, and blood painted the tombstones grotesquely. She could make out at least five of them, torn apart and scattered about the ground.

Seras snarled in rage. How dare he?! End lives in such a way just to make a point to one vampire. How did he plan on making peace with humanity if he was willing to kill them so needlessly? But then she reminded herself, he wasn't hoping for peace, that was becoming more and more obvious as time wore on.

"Argh!" she growled and hoisted herself over the fence, pushing off with her arms, and landed several yards deep into the cemetery. Her entrance caught the attention of the ghouls immediately who looked up on the hopes for more blood.

"Seras, wait!" Radu exclaimed, reaching after her speeding figure. He had time to blink once before rotted blood sprayed out into the air from a decimated ghoul as it fell to the ground, his head ripped clean from his shoulders with her bare hands. Two solid thuds later as it hit the ground, and its jaws continued to gnaw at the air even as it turned to ash. As another approached her she reached out and lifted it by its shoulders, pulled back, and threw it head long into the gathering crowd. It bowled through the others comically and sent several sprawling to the ground. In the wake of their clumsiness Seras lunged forward, like a monster of prey, and landed in the center of the group viciously, fingers splayed like claws, and snarled.

Radu watched on, stunner by her ferocity, and felt no urge to assist in the cleanup. She was a different being all together than the sweet girl he had grown to know. Now she was the true monster that she was. With a flourish of blood and a gleeful smile she tore through the collection of rotting flesh like a paper shredder. She did not pause, did not stop to consider her next move, and only stopped to take in her destruction once the last ghoul had been killed.

She stood above the piled corpses, panting for breath she did not need, and looked at her gloved hands. They were stained with the gross muck that was ghoul blood and the sight of it churned her stomach but she could not deny the satisfaction she felt as the last of the bodies dispersed into ash, leaving the human remains of the teenagers behind for her to see. She debated on what to do with them. Integra had always been the one to call in the cleanup crew and the bodies were disposed of quietly. She did not know what was customary for the situation. Were the families told the truth or were the left in the dark of the whereabouts of their loved ones, forced to wonder about their fates? She could not just leave them there to be found by some unsuspecting civilian in the morning.

"Seras?"

She lifted her eyes to Radu, who had joined her in the cemetery wearing a grim expression. She let out a sigh and gestured to the bodies, "I have to take care of them."

"Yes, of course," he said quietly.

She arrived back at the hotel just as the sun was rising. It peeked out over the building tops the moment her hand touched the bar on the glass door of the Casa Monica and she paused to watch the rays reach out and paint the dark night sky in pinks and oranges that she had not seen in some time.

Radu had stayed to help her dispose of the bodies. Their pieces were gathered and buried far beneath the ground of the cemetery in barely an hour thanks to their combined efforts. Seras had mourned the end of their lives quietly while Radu stood off to the side, ignoring the blood and dirt that caked his hands, as he stared at the displaced dirt forlornly. Guilt settled in his stomach like a rock. Had he not been caught snooping around then those children would not have died the way they had.

They parted solemnly, guilt weighing the both of them down, and had promised to meet the next night. Seras returned to the hotel slowly, trudging through the streets with her hands in her pockets and a lost look spread across her face. She had seen much bloodshed over her life, violent needless deaths in the endless war waged against the darkness that infested the world, and in all honesty this latest event had not been the worst – but it seemed so devastating – and she could not place why. It was another loss in the hundreds that had already passed and would no doubt take place in the future, but it had happened during a peaceful night of friendship. It had been out of spite. It had been nothing more than petty politics amongst a squabbling people and as that realization dawned on her so too did the source of her devastation. The world was no longer black and white. It had always been Hellsing against the monsters that killed without thought, tore apart lives for the simple joy of it, but now it was so much more. It was complicated in the sense that her view on the situation had become clouded with grey. Radu was not evil but he was a vampire. Flager dreamed of creating a new society. There were politics, there was conscious thought, and there was reasoning behind the blood shed as petty as it was. She understood then, what her master had meant when he claimed they had only ever dealt with the scum of the vampire world, they had never gone up against a true Nosferatu with power behind him and a cause to push him forward.

It was no longer a simple job of exterminating the evil in the world. It was war. Complicated, messy, and righteous war.

So as she pulled the door open to the hotel, the warm heady antique scent spilling out over her, it was with a heavy heart that she hesitantly made her way up to their room.

When Integra woke the next morning, she shambled out into the sitting room, intent on making herself a cup of strong coffee to get herself moving. But she found a vacant and forlorn Seras sitting at one of the chairs by the window. Her knees were pulled up to her chin and her arms were wrapped around them, hugging them close to her body, while she stared out at the rising sun. No words were exchanged while Integra went about making her coffee. No questions asked or orders given. Instead, the fifty-two year old woman joined Seras by the window with a quiet sigh and watched the sunrise with her.

They sat together for an hour, quietly absorbing the morning rays, both wondering in their minds. Seras retreated to her room after finally letting Integra in on what had happened the night before. She explained in detail what Radu had shared with her, the ghouls attack, and the reasoning behind it.

"They have a hierarchy, Sir, they have government and politics. They are a people . . ." she trailed off, biting her nail and turning her gaze back to the window.

"They are monsters," Integra said darkly, leveling the girl with a cautious look.

"But they are more than that now," she muttered and pushed herself out of the chair. "I'm going to shower then go to bed," she stated.

Integra realized that she was covered in dirt and blood, her gloves stained and stretched against her clenched fists, and her uniform torn. She had been sitting curled up in the chair, hiding the majority of the grime in her distress, and now it was all visible. She smelled like fresh soil and rotted corpses and the combined smell would have had Integra gagging if she had not been holding her coffee directly under her nose. The strong drink beat back whatever scent had wafted off of the vampire with ease.

"Fine, Andrews and I will investigate the college today. You deserve a good rest anyways," Integra said as she too stood. She patted the girl's shoulder, ignoring the smear of dirt that now graced her palm, and gave her a tight lipped smile before moving over to the desk and sitting down in the plush chair.

Seras returned her smile sadly and left for the shower within her own room.

Inegra watched her go while she booted up her laptop. She checked her emails and was surprised that Jenner, their second in command under Seras, had yet to respond to her email. She bit the knuckle of a finger in irritation and glanced at the phone sitting off to the side on the desk. With a sigh she lifted it off the receiver and dialed the number for the estate. The line did not ring. It blared the disconnected tone into her ear like a wakeup call from hell. She dropped the phone back on the receiver and pulled her cellphone from her pocket and selected the same number but before she could even lift the phone to her ear the same tone screeched from the device. She growled and threw her hands up in frustration.

With nothing better to do she sent another email to Jenner and copied their communications branch on it. Someone had to receive the email. She did not understand why the phones were not connecting but be damned she would contact her men if it killed her. They were probably sitting around twiddling their thumbs and playing beer pong while they were away and were completely clueless over the situation. No, she corrected herself irritably, Seras had trained them better than that. They were not The Wild Geese, they were hired, trained, and controlled by the Draculina herself. Integra had witnessed their perfection and she doubted they were doing anything but their usual patrol rounds and training routines.

Why were the phones disconnected?

She shook her head and stood, squaring her shoulders against the panic that threatened to overtake her, and pulled a cigar from the desk drawer. It had been a long while since she had faced off with a vampire on her own, let alone an entire nations worth. She gnawed at the end of the cigar and trudged over to the balcony doors, threw them open, and lit the cigar in one smooth motion. While she exhaled a cloud of smoke the bells over Flagler College tolled the hour. It looked like they were on their own with this one.

Seras showered quickly, not wanting to dwell too long in the fluorescent lighting of the bathroom, and pulled on a pair of pajamas quickly before sliding into bed and pulling the covers over her head. She ignored the frustrated sounds from Integra, slipping in through her door, and causing her ears to twitch with each slam of a drawer and uttered curse. She lifted a pillow and covered her head with it until the muffled sounds were drowned out by the thick stuffing of cotton.

Once again she was overcome by the need to see her master. He would know what to do in their situation. Had he been there they would not be stuck with their hands tied, waiting impatiently for the enemy to make a move, unable to take action against their enemies simply because the area was not in their jurisdiction. Master would have laughed and gone off on his own to slay the mastermind behind it all and that would have been that. But he was not here and Seras didn't know if she was strong enough to fight off such a powerful vampire, powerful enough to draw all the vampires to him after the death of their King, without the help of her men.

 _"_ _Don't worry, mon cher, I am here for you."_ Pip's voice floated through her head, followed by an agreeing purr from Aranu himself. _"And the cat too I guess,"_ Pip muttered irritably.

Seras fell asleep with a small smile on her face, her fears and frustrations having been calmed for the moment, and slept for the majority of the day. Something she hadn't done in years.


	6. Food Poisoning

"I hope I won't catch you misbehaving again."

Radu looked up from the book he had been reading. Well, attempting to read anyways, his mind was too filled with doubts and worries to really concentrate on the old novel that he had pilfered from the college library. The high blood vampires and those close to them had taken to roosting in a wing of the college that was barred from students and staff under the guise of reconstruction. There were mesmerized men working on it in the early mornings until about noon upon which they would take a dazed lunch and return to their normal lives afterwards, none the wiser. The wing itself was perfectly fine if not a bit darker and more gothic looking thanks to the presence of so many powerful vampires.

"Lady Elizabeth," Radu greeted quietly. He had hoped that by choosing to read during the daylight hours he could be left in peace. But he saw now that it was not to be. The cat had found the mouse. A game that had spanned for all the centuries he had been a vampire and one that, despite his age and wisdom, he was never good at. So the mouse sighed and set his book down on the windowsill next to him before turning his red gaze onto the lovely creature standing in the shadows. She grinned a Cheshire grin and dipped her head in the smallest of bows. It was meant as a joke, Radu knew, she had taken to calling him Prince after his brother's rise to power and had played the part of a Lady in Waiting as a laugh.

"Radu, my little prince, when will you learn?" she cooed from her spot in the shadows, one hand lifted to her mouth and the other supporting her elbow. She let out a small laugh at the look of exhausted despair that came over his face.

"Never, it seems," he muttered, turning to gaze out the window at the students who traversed the college grounds in ignorance.

"All the more fun for me then, little prince, would you not say?" she tittered and stepped forward into the light, revealing cascading brown hair and red eyes, a pixie like face, and the elegant gown of red satin that she wore. She reached a hand up, trailing her knuckles over Radu's cheek in a loving fashion.

"Yes my mistress," he mumbled.

"This might be more difficult than we originally thought it would be," Andrews said.

They stood within the courtyard of Flalger College. A fountain gurgled in the center and high above them stood the clock tower that they so often heard chiming away from any vantage point within the city. The magnificent building, ornate and grand, was filled to the brim with angsty young adults stressing over the oncoming storm that was midterms. Every which way the looked there were people hunched over books, pen to paper, and studying as if their very lives depended on it. Here and there a few could be spotted socializing but their numbers were far outnumbered by the studious lot. Regardless, the courtyard was still filled with rowdy people that would only impede their investigation.

Integra stood with her arms crossed and a cigar clenched between her teeth, staring up at the building irritably. Andrews was just behind her and to the right, eyeing the place warily, but refrained from making any further comments. He could already feel her ire rising to dangerous levels and he only hoped she would remain level headed throughout their search.

"Seras said that Radu had found them in the basement," Integra reiterated as they walked forward deeper into the courtyard. "But I looked through the blue prints of the building on the laptop and there is no basement, at least, not one of the magnitude that Radu described."

"A recent addition?" Andrews guessed in a dry and sarcastic tone. He clasped his hand behind his back as he followed her, his face turned down but his eyes scanning the property.

"Ma'am, you can't smoke on the property!"

Integra came to an abrupt stop and shut her eyes against the anger bubbling in her gut. She let out a sigh and took the cigar from her mouth, lifted a foot, and ground the ember out onto the soul of her shoe before returning it to the case kept within her back pocket. Across the courtyard a security guard nodded curtly to her before moving on in his rounds.

"Something along those lines, no doubt," she muttered.

Their search was fruitless in the end. They traipsed all across the campus, snooping in wings outsides were not permitted in, sneaking through the dorms, and searching the lowest levels of the building to no avail. The students were oblivious to their presence as well as any rumors regarding vampires, or at least, they pretended to be. They were eventually escorted off the property by the headmaster but not before Andrews was mistaken for a professor and Integra his wife. They had been wandering down one of the long hallways, one wall lined in windows, when a rather frantic looking youg man had come running after them yelling "Professor Basil!" repeatedly until they had realized he was talking to them and stopped.

"Pardon?" Andrews had said, looking more than a bit befuddled when the boy came to a stop, panting and bent over with his hands on his knees.

"I was hoping to talk to you about the final paper, you said it had to be five thousand words but you didn't give us a limit and mine happens to be a bit longer than five thousand . . ." he trailed off and straightened up in front of them, adjusting his glasses and paused. "Oh, you're not Professor Basil, I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed.

"Professor Basil, is that your wife?" another student questioned from down the hall curiously.

Integra sighed while Andrews laughed and waved the students off in nervous amusement.

By that point Integra was practically stomping through the college, irritated by their lack of findings and the constant interruptions. She had managed to lead them all the way down into the basement, but it was small, and filled with old furniture and cleaning supplies. Not at all the huge room stuffed with an army of ghouls that they were looking for. They had been standing in the dark room, debating on their next move, when the security guard found them. He had shone his flashlight on them and ordered them off the property immediately lest he call for back up. Rather than make more of a scene than they already had to two agreed to go quietly and endured the embarrassing march back through the school followed by the curious eyes of all the onlookers.

Neither of them noticed the dark figure standing at the window in one of the towers, watching them with red eyes, and grinning like a fool.

The two returned to the hotel late in the evening, the sun just sinking below the horizon, and trudged up the stairs and into their room where they found Seras waiting for them. She was standing at the window in a pair of jeans and a black button up shirt biting the nail of a thumb in thought.

"Did you find anything?" she asked.

"No," Integra answered with a sigh. She moved over to the desk and sat down, booting up the laptop, while Andrews went about preparing a late tea.

Seras fell quiet, her mood taking a dark turn at their lack of findings.

Integra logged onto her email, searching through the messages carefully, and found nothing from Hellsing. She slammed the laptop shut and leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. "I can't get in contact with the estate or anyone from Hellsing. I'm assuming it has something to do with this place."

Andrews set a cup of tea down in front of her and hugged the tray to his chest in thought. "How strange," he mused, "that may pose a problem come Friday."

"Naturally," Integra agreed demurely.

Seras scoffed from where she stood by the window, drawing Integra's attention, while Andrews returned to the kitchen sensing that the women were about to have a more emotional discussion. While he was perfectly capable of handling such a thing he realized that Seras, in her every growing negativity, needed to have a talk with Integra and not him. They were all reaching a breaking point with their frustrations and Seras, always the more innocent and hopeful of the group, had fallen first. Odd though it was. She had remained positive in many similar situations, always the one to encourage her troops with a kind smile and a pep talk while ghouls shambled around them and a vampire laughed from afar, she had always been good at that. But now, something had changed that about her. He only hoped Integra would realize it and not assume that Seras was merely being moody.

"What's troubling you, Police Girl?"

Ah, there it was. He should not have doubted her. She was an intelligent woman after all. But must she use that horrible nickname? It was more likely to irritate the woman then help. Contrary to his thoughts, however, Seras turned to look at Integra wearing a saddened smile that spoke of frustration and appreciation.

"Radu said that he got caught when he was snooping around and paid a heavy price, the ghouls we found were sent as a warning to him, and now he's late. He was supposed to be here an hour ago and while I know he can sometimes be a bit childish and get distracted, I'm afraid for him," she explained.

"Then go look for him, I'm not your prison guard, just be smart about it," Integra offered, her tone confused and doubting the vampire's intelligence.

"He's not out and about," Seras said, "I think he's being held captive."

"How do you know this?" Integra questioned cautiously, eyeing the draculina.

"I don't know, I just feel it," she muttered angrily.

Integra fell silent and dropped her gaze to her entwined fingers in thought. She too was growing very frustrated. She had been tempted to just tell the Vatican and be done with it, and really she should have, but it was stubborn pride that would not allow her too. She would not leave this up to the Catholics to take care of while they sat on their hands in the corner like good little children. "Damnit!" she snarled and dropped a fist onto the desk. "Listen here Police Girl, this is an order!"

Seras stared wide eyed at the woman, so stunned that she dropped her hands to her side and her mouth hung open, she struggled to pull herself together and stand straight at attention. Integra had rarely given her orders in such a way. Seras was not bound to the organization like her master was and Integra generally respected that, instead making suggestions and polite demands, allowing her to do her own thing while she stood back and watched. "Yes sir!" She exclaimed.

"You find that sniveling little brat of a younger brother to your master," Integra began, forcing out through grit teeth, "And you bring him here. If you happen to run into other vampires in the process . . ." she paused, staring at the petit blonde searchingly. Did she have it in her? Could she be just as bloodthirsty and destructive as her master? "Tear them apart with no remorse," she finished. Yes, she could, Integra had seen the aftermath of what had taken place in the manor thirty years ago.

"Sir, yes sir!" Seras agreed with a determined expression. For the first time in a long while, shadows spilled from her left arm and hit the floor like some kind of thick liquid before bouncing up and overtaking her form. When it retreated, disappearing back into her arm, she was once again dressed in her uniform.

Andrews had watched on curiously having never actually seen her use her powers in such a way. Yes, he had seen her rip apart ghouls and vampires, perform simple tasks with inhuman strength, but he had never seen her shadows before.

"Seras," Integra called when the woman had moved to retrieve the Harkonnen.

"Yes?" she asked impatiently, eager to get a move on while the night was young.

Integra smirked and once again laced her fingers together in front of her, "Search and destroy."

Seras grinned and then laughed. She retrieved her weapon and as if she had been overtaken by another more darker and animalistic side she stepped onto the balcony, climbed atop the railing, and launched herself into the night. Her shadows spreading out from her back and acting like wings to carry her through the night air.

"In the fourteen years that I have been employed by the Hellsing Organization, I don't think I have ever seen such a thing," Andrews admitted from his position in the kitchenette.

Integra remained silent for a moment, lost in memory, before saying, "She is nothing like her master." She turned the chair around to face the butler as she spoke. "He was a true monster, capable of so much destruction, with no care for who died. Which is why it is laughable that he made her his fledgling . . ."

Andrews tried to imagine the kind of demon she had described but found himself at a loss. All he had to go by were rumors and stories of a demon king who would do nothing but laugh at the chaos he caused. Tales spread by survivors of the London Attack, not true accounts of his deeds, because all those who would have born witness to them had passed in the battle. He would forever be nothing but a mythological figure in his mind, a boogey man, a monster that only lived on in stories.

So why would someone like that make such a joyful thing like Seras into his fledgling? "I suppose everyone gets tired of the darkness at some point or another," he answered her unasked question with a shrug.

Integra only grunted and turned back to her laptop. She would make some more calls to pinpoint the exact problem with communications. Could she just not reach Hellsing, or was it any place outside of St. Augustine? Had the whole city unknowingly been placed on lockdown?

Seras landed at the cemetery they had visited the night before in hopes of finding him moping over the fallen teenagers. He had been so glum after the event, she had too, but she was certain he felt more guilt than anything.

The cemetery was quiet, not even crickets chirped within the trees, but a small breeze rustled the leaves and filled the plot with a mournful sound. Her red eyes scanned the tombstones, her sense extending across the grounds, and came back with nothing. She turned, taking in the street outside of the fence, and did some quick calculating. It would take her too long to search through the whole city on her own. She cursed.

"Pip! Aranu!" she called.

Just like before, darkness spilled from her arm, but formed into something very different. Pip pulled himself out of the shadows, struggling against the muck for a second, before coming to stand at attention. He grinned at her just as Aranu leapt from the shadows and paced across the cemetery curiously.

"What are you orders, mon cher?" he asked with a mock bow.

"Pip, we have to find Radu," Seras explained.

Pip scowled, "That bloody flower?"

Seras cracked a smile but nodded, "He is my friend, my master's brother, and we need to find him. He's been doing his best to help us and I think he's in trouble."

"Yes, yes," Pip appeased with raised hands. "We will help you find you flower," he muttered with a sigh and turned after the Jaguar. "Come on you big brute, we don't have all night, you can sniff about later."

Aranu snorted irritably but returned to the two regardless.

Pip flicked him in the ear and nodded to Seras with a smile before turning away and swaggering out onto the streets with the jaguar at his side. They phased through the fence as if it wasn't even there and as soon as they were a good couple of yards away she felt her knees turn to Jell-O with the strain. She heard Pip calling for Radu long after they had disappeared from sight – though the titles he called out were not so complimentary – regardless she was thankful for the two.

She looked everywhere that she could think of. She checked Pete's Alley, which was just beginning to close, but she ran through the restaurant regardless. She even checked the bathroom! She tried the wildlife reserve. Every bookstore and library. She walked along the waterside, searching through every shop and resting place. She scoured the shopping district and came up with nothing.

She was growing frantic and preparing to turn her sight onto Flagler College, regardless of being outnumbered, if it meant she would find Radu. Her master did not know he was alive. He did not know that one of the few people he had trusted in life was still alive centuries after he should have died. Her master had suffered so much in life that she could not imagine what would happen if he were to discover his little brother had been alive but was destroyed in an effort to assist them. She imagined he would finally snap.

"Where are you?!" she exclaimed.

Yes, she wanted him to survive so that her master could find him, but he had also become a good friend to her. He had shown her kindness and let her in on some of her master's most guarded secrets from his human life. She would see him thrive in the future, even if it killed her, because the Dracula brothers deserved some happiness in their lives more than she did.

She was running now, speeding through streets and alleyways in a panic, and struggling to contain the emotions that were welling up within her. The image of her master turning his back on her flashed through her mind. The thought of Radu experiencing some sort of torture with no hope of escape. She let out a cry of frustration when she found herself standing in front of a Catholic church.

The building, like all the others in St. Augustine, was ornate and tall. Windows lined its walls reach ten feet in length. A tower stood high above the streets and when she took a step back to look at its very top she recognized the sight from their hotel room.

She cursed and dropped her gaze to the ground in thought. It looked like she would have to march on the college. She would go into a blood rage without a doubt and there would be no one to stop her unless she found Radu. She clenched her fists, lost in despair, and nearly missed the flash of red from the corner of her eye.

Not now, she thought, squeezing her eyes shut. The overwhelmingly familiar presence loomed over her like a tidal wave and she was forced to shake herself out of her thoughts. She straightened and turned on the spot, fists raised and ready for a fight, and froze.

Eight pairs of red eyes stared back at her from the entrance of an ally across the street.

Could it be?

The eyes moved, stepped forward out into the street lights, and revealed a very familiar figure.

"Baskerville!" Seras exclaimed.

The monstrous dog seemed to grin in acknowledgement before turning the darting back down the alleyway. Seras lurched forward and scampered after him, determined to catch him, or at least, find out where he was going. Was her master here? Maybe he would be able to find Radu. Baskerville did not wait for her to catch up, he darted through the intricate network of alleys as if he knew the city like the back of his paw and she was forced to scramble to keep up.

His fleeting figure was hard to follow. Often times Seras would turn around a corner and find that she could not see him, lost among the cars and trashcans that took up the small streets. But then he would run by from a different direction and she would be off again, hurrying after him. She felt like she was being led on a wild goose chase. The thought of calling Pip and Aranu did not even cross her mind in her haste.

Baskerville darted down one last alley ahead of her and when she lunged out of the passage she nearly tripped over her own feet. The demon hound had led her strait into a pack of wandering ghouls. They had been rummaging through a dumpster behind a restaurant and upon her entrance, turned their attention on to her.

Overwhelming rage filled her. What did this have to do with Radu? Or her master? She narrowed her eyes and growled. Baskerville had played her for a fool, as he so often had in the past, no doubt for some form of entertainment. He was just like her master. She was tired of playing. It was time to get some answers.

She jumped into the crowd of ghouls, and much like the night before, ripped them apart with her bare hands. She never once reached for the Harkonnen that was slung over her shoulder. While she fought her way through the shambling corpses she could still sense Baskerville in the distance, probably watching the carnage in glee, and the thought angered her further. She roared and through another ghoul into the dumpster. The force caused the heavy lid to slam shut over the monster.

"To hell with this, I'm going to find out what the hell is going on once and for all!" she exclaimed. She destroyed all but one ghoul, her foot placed over its throat, holding it still against the ground while she removed the Harkonnen from her back and dropped it to the ground. She crouched and lifted the ghoul towards her with one hand, using the other to hold its face away from her, and dug her fangs into its neck.

When a vampire drinks the blood of a living creature they can gain access to its memories, thoughts and emotions. If they were to drain the source they would gain its soul and it would become a part of them for the rest of their existence. In theory, if she drank the blood of the ghoul she would get a glimpse at what was really going on.

Through the bitter and putrid taste that assaulted her tongue she was able to taste what must have once been blood but after centuries, yes, centuries, for that specific ghoul had been around far longer than Seras had been alive, it had rotted and gathered all kinds of bacteria. The second it had hit her tongue she had struggled not to gag. But the images that surfaced within her mind distracted her from the taste. They bubbled up like large pockets of air forcing their way to the surface through thick muck. She saw an older man, tall and dignified, who she knew to be Flagler thanks to the vague memories of the ghoul. But she could not garner any in depth details because the ghoul himself had been mindless for the majority of its existence. The most information she got were names, faces to go with them, and which ones brought food and which ones carried the left overs away. But there was something far darker in the corner of the ghouls mind. A creature who had shared the basement with them. A true monster that made even that mindless creature feel fear.

"How interesting."

A voice echoed within her mind and for the briefest of moments she caught a glimpse of ice blue eyes, almost white, that opened and gazed at her with rapt attention.

She gasped, unlatching her jaws from the throat of the ghoul, and stumbled back. The ghoul lay prone across the ground while she sat on the wet concrete in a daze. She tried to process the information she had just gained but her stomach churned against the vial concoction she had just guzzled down and it distracted her. She felt something cold and wet on her face and realized several agonizingly slow seconds later that it was Baskerville, sniffing at her curiously, trying to prod her into a standing position.

She turned her gaze onto the hellhound absently and groaned. She felt sick and strange and she knew that she had heard someone's voice in her head, someone who wasn't her master, and it was all Baskerville's fault. She turned over and gagged, feeling the vile liquids rushing back up her esophagus before splattering across the pavement with a rather revolting sound.

She heard the dog whine before she attempted to struggle to her feet. She wavered for a second with questionable balance, before bending down and lifted the Harkonnen onto her shoulder with the strap. She didn't know where she was going as she stumbled back down an alley, only that she had somewhere she was supposed to be, or something she was supposed to do, and that she had to hurry. But while her mind spun and her stomach heaved for the second time she could not for the life of her remember what it was that was so important.

Seras could not recall having ever been so sick and disoriented in her life. She had never been one to drink herself into a stupor but that was the only thing she could compare her current condition to. She was dizzy, and nauseas, and she felt her head pound against her skull like a savage beast begging for escape. The fear of her brain actually exploding filtered through her head and sent a spike of fear through her chest. Could that happen? She couldn't remember if something like that was possible. Surely it was. She lifted a hand to her head and moaned.

At some point she must have fallen over because she suddenly found herself curled up atop the asphalt, her back pressed against a brick wall, while Baskerville snuffled her face and whined. He looked kind of funny with eight eyes. Hadn't he only had six? Or was that spiders?

Master would know, she thought demurely, where was he anyways? Hadn't he just been there with her not a second ago? She was positive that he had been saying something rather rude while wearing that maniac grin of his and chuckling. Something to do with Integra and her cigars.

A tall figure crouched over her and blocked the light of a streetlamp from her face, drawing her attention away from the single brick she had been staring at for the past half hour. Her dulled gaze took in the red and black clothing, the red eyes, and the dark hair.

"There you are," she mumbled tiredly, "Baskerville tricked me."

"Hush little one," he said. His tone was a bit more gentle than usual, Seras noted warily.

He bent over her, lifting her gun and all into his arms, and stood. Red eyes scanned the surrounding area for the face of Baskerville but found nothing. A breeze blew through the alley, revealing the strikingly familiar, but more youthful face of Radu. He was pale and tired looking but the state Seras was in left him looking grim and distraught on top of it. He clutched her to his chest and staggered back against the adjacent wall, finding his strength failing him, and grunted upon impact.

Integra and Andrews had laid out several maps of the city and the surrounding areas as far out as the northern most edges of Florida. The room phone as well as both their cellphones decorated the coffee table between the two. An ash tray overflowing with cigar butts smoked from the corner of the table. They had been placing calls to random companies, offices, and business for the past hour. Their calls all went through until they reached the western border of the state and the circumference of that. Afterwards, they received nothing but dial tone and eventually, completely out of service.

Whatever kind of science or dark magic that had been placed over the city was certainly doing its job and blocking out signal. But how they were keeping it all under wraps was the bigger question. Tourists would not be able to leave, planes would not fly without radio, but they had heard no complaints since their arrival. But then again, the grand celebration that had most likely drawn the majority of the crowd that week had yet to take place, people wouldn't make too much of a big deal about making calls back home when they were out and about getting drunk and preparing for the grand festival.

Andrews, who was seated at a chair pulled up to the table let out a small sigh just as Integra took a draw on her most recent cigar, its ashes decorating the wood of the table beneath her. They had fallen silent after mapping out the general area of the signal block, staring at the maps in quiet contemplation, and attempting to quell to growing frustration.

Integra leaned back to relax her stiff shoulders when the familiar figure of Pip burst through the door.

"Pip?!" Integra exclaimed, the cigar between her lips falling to the table where it bounced, spraying more ash across the table, and continued to burn.

The Frenchmen looked haggard and slightly transparent but he barely had a moment to speak before the very unfamiliar figure of Aranu charged in after him paving the way for a weakened Radu to stumble in and fall to his knees with Seras still clutched within his arms. The Harkonnen finally fell from her shoulder and clattered to the ground, obliterating the stunned silence that had been birthed from their appearance.

"What in the bloody hell is going on?" Integra roared, ignorant of the guests in the adjacent rooms. She stood from her chair and glowered at Radu who refused to meet her icy gaze.

Andrews, irritated with the lack of action on anybody's part (even the jaguar who had frozen under the fury Integra exuded), leapt to his feet and rushed over to the pair on the floor. He dropped to his knees and pulled Seras from Radu's arms, which fell limply to his sides as soon as they were relieved of their burden, and into his own arms to look her over.

"We went looking for that bloody flower and something happened to Seras, she must have been in a fight, but she's sick," Pip explained through his distraught anger. He spat in the general direction of Radu irritably, annoyed that the blood of Alucard continued to trouble his Seras.

"Radu," Integra snapped. She had yet to move from where she stood, choosing to be the calm one in the situation despite her ire. Radu lifted his muddied eyes up to her and she was stunned to see the despair there. Her anger lessened, much quicker than it would have in her younger days, and she let out another sigh. "What happened?" she asked in a quieter tone.

Radu dropped his gaze back to the draculina who Andrews still held in front of him. The butler had checked her over for any injuries or biblical weapons that may have caused her condition but found nothing. "She said something about Baskerville tricking her. I smelled ghouls so I assumed she had gotten into a fight with them. But she is sick, the likes of which I have only ever heard of, she must have drank their blood. I can only imagine what it's done to her. Rotten blood is not something to be ingested," he explained dully, lifting a hand as if to touch her, before letting it fall back to his side with a sigh.

"And what about you?" Integra asked. "What is the cause of your state?" she clarified while taking in his disheveled appearance and grey flesh.

Radu grimaced and reached for his throat hesitantly before saying, "I was attacked by a less than savory character, but that is neither here or now, and it has nothing to do with this situation."

Integra remained thoughtfully quiet, eyeing the vampire with cautious trust, before grunting and turning her gaze onto her own vampire worriedly. "Andrews, get some blood in her and see that she recovers," she ordered and turned away.

"Yes Sir," Andrews responded curtly and stood with Seras in his arms. He carried her away to her room where she was placed on the bed before he returned to the kitchenette to prepare some of the medical blood stored away within the fridge.

While Andrews went about seeing to Seras, Pip and Aranu had disappeared into the shadows, leaving Integra to watch over the happenings of the room with a stern eye. Radu had dragged himself into a chair in the corner where he slumped like a corpse and closed his eye against the soft light of the room.

Integra watched Andrews breeze back into the dark bedroom where Seras rested before moving into the kitchenette herself and retrieving a pack of medical blood that she offered to Radu. The vampire lifted his gaze to her only after several seconds of her standing there in front of him had registered to his senses. His eyes immediately zeroed in on the packet hanging in front of his face and he lifted his hand, taking it from her, and let it fall back into his lap tiredly.

"Thanks," he breathed.

"Don't mention it," she grumbled and turned away, taking a seat at the desk across the room.

Radu lifted the pack to his lips after gazing at it vacantly for a span of time. His teeth pierced the bag and he drank it down hungrily then once again dropped his hand into his lap, not having the strength to hold it up any longer.

The blood, though helpful to his physical health, did nothing for the mental strain. He rubbed at his eyes and sighed, attempting to rouse himself into wakefulness, but he was struggling. He had suffered much in his life but having been gifted the existence of Seras and then to find her strewn across the pavement in some dark alley heaped with trash and fallen ashes of ghouls had frightened him in a way he had not experienced in a long time. Perhaps maybe he had felt it once or twice as a human. But after centuries of suffering at the hands of Elizabeth he had cultivated a façade quite capable of masquerading in front of his own kind in social situations while he had grown cold and distant on the inside. The death of his brother had finally broken him. He had never been able to face him, to admit that he had been changed and had not had the strength to take his freedom from the she-witch that had taken his life, but the truth of his brother's existence had been a shining light in the darkness. The hope that one day, not in the immediate future, he would be able to free himself from Elizabeth and go to him had been the soul driving force behind his existence. When the feeling of his absence had roared through his heart he had shattered and become nothing but a doll.

And then he had seen Seras, sitting across a restaurant and smiling and laughing, poking fun at the other guests with Integra. His dead heart had beat with hope. The second she had entered the room he had felt his brother's presence again. And like that he had uncurled himself and blossomed under his mask, like a tumbleweed, his roots had sensed a sustenance and taken up hold on life again. Reality kicked in and the blur that had been his existence over the past thirty years snapped into sudden clarity. And then she had made eye contact with him and scowled in such a comical way that he had truly laughed for the first time in decades.

The others at the table had given him strange looks, surprised that the usually eloquent high blood fledgling, normally the first to criticize any who showed too much emotion with a calm and cool air, had snorted. And when he realized he had garnered all their attention with his actions he had quirked a brow at them in a challenging way. The nerve!

He had slipped away after them, having caught sight of them trying to make their escape, and was surprised when Seras put herself between him and the humans as he followed. An action that spoke highly of her opinion of the two and said much about her usual company. It became obvious to him then that she was still working with Hellsing and that the impressively intimidating woman that walked ahead of her was Sir Integra Hellsing herself.

And now she was sick beyond belief, something that seemed utterly prosperous considering that she was undead, and he was to blame. She had been out looking for him because he had failed to arrive at the hotel at the agreed upon time. But like so many nights before, Elizabeth had taken it upon herself to "discipline" him, and he had not been able to pull himself back together in time. He had only just gotten a stab wound, from Elizabeth's bare hand, to close over when he stumbled upon the Draculina in the alley.

His head had started to fall back onto the chair, his eyes having fallen shut, and he jerked violently back to attention when Andrews returned from Seras's room. The butler was ringing his hands and glowering at the ground as he returned the cup he had used to hold the blood to the sink.

"What is it, Andrews?" Integra asked warily. She had been jotting down notes while searching for something on the internet, which by all rights should not have been working, when she noticed his odd behavior.

"I don't think feeding her is going to help," Andrews explained nervously.

"Explain," Integra clipped, growing annoyed with his nervous fidgeting.

"I tried, but she just threw it up, and kept mumbling something about a gentleman named Eddie and the police force," he informed.

"She's delirious then, she hasn't been in the police force for over thirty years," Integra cursed and dropped her hand onto the desk, unsure of what action to take. A sick vampire was nothing like a sick human. She couldn't exactly just order the girl to bed and to drink plenty of water. Chicken noodle soup was not an option. They couldn't check her temperature because she was dead and her heart did not beat, warm blood did not flow through her veins unless it had been recently ingested. Her master had never been sick, starved yes, but she had never experienced such a thing as a physically unhealthy vampire. Mental health was a whole other story. "Radu," she called, drawing the drowsy vampire's attention to her. "How do we take care of her?"

Radu sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and dropped his face into his hands in tired frustration. "I don't know. We don't get sick. I'm afraid I have been sheltered during my vampiric existence. I could not tell you what the less fortunate have suffered as my master is rather well off and high up in the court . . ." he trailed off.

"Your master?" Integra questioned.

Radu stared at her in confusion before suddenly growing even paler, his eyes widened, and his whole body tensed. He opened his mouth, struggling to backpedal and cover his slip up, but Integra only glowered at him. She was obviously done playing games. He dropped his gaze to the carpet and scowled, irritated with his own idiocy.

"Elizabeth Bathory," Radu muttered darkly.

"The bloody? Wasn't she after your time?" Andrews questioned from his post next to Integra.

Radu grimaced and sat back in the chair tenderly, as if saying her name caused him physical pain, and he was preparing himself for the conversation. "Elizabeth is a special case. She is so far gone, I am afraid, that things like time matter little to her."

"What do you mean she is 'so far gone'?" Integra asked.

"The darkness," Radu answered simply, "We all cling to our sanity with all our strength. The darkness is what we unconsciously crave and while some may dabble in it, play with it, few ever cross the line." He folded his arms across his chest and fought back a shiver of disgust. "She is not all there as in she had become a part of the darkness, she can be wherever she wants. She is not tethered to any time or place any longer, she has become nothing but shadow."

"How is that possible?" Integra asked, a bit in awe by the new information, and concerned for how they could possibly defeat such a creature.

Radu shrugged halfheartedly and turned his head to gaze into the dark doorway that was Seras' room. "I have been trying to figure it out all these years, I have tried countless times to defeat her –," he cut himself off and pounded a fist into the arm of the chair angrily, covering his eyes with the other.

Integra fell silent and dropped her gaze to her hands in thought. How could they possibly defeat Flagler if he had such characters backing him?


	7. Welcome Back!

Death was such an unbecoming thing. It was something that he had come to learn over the centuries of his existence. Humans had romanticized it, as they did anything that frightened them, and warped it into a beautiful thing. But in truth it was disgusting. The body would empty itself, atrophy, and rot away stinking to the heavens while creatures feasted on the bacteria infested flesh.

But his body would never experience such a thing. He stared down at the white glove, pristine even after the horrendous horrors it had been through, and flexed his fingers. He was frozen, suspended between life and death, for the rest of his life. However long that would be. But his soul was no doubt twisted and warped beyond recognition. Yes, as the flesh withers away so too does the soul. Which was no surprise to him as he had watched the millions he had consumed decay within him.

Which made the creature sitting in front of him all the more curious as it had obviously once been the soul of a man, now decomposed beyond recognition, but he was laughing. Crouched before him with his knees to his chest and his hands on the ground, the ghoulish thing looked down at its feet and chuckled darkly.

He cocked his head, intrigued by the new development, not quite understanding who it was he was looking at for he had consumed too many to recall. He had never thought to truly memorize the faces of those he indulged in, maybe at first, when he had still had a conscience and needed allies, but he had snapped at some point in the past and let go of all sense of morale. Perhaps it was after the death of his son. The boy had gone on to be king after his supposed death and he had worked to watch over him as he grew from the shadows. But as time passed the king, of course, withered of old age and died leaving him to weather the world with nothing to protect. His son had been the only thing he had left after the war. The war that forced him to reach for a dark power and become a damned monster.

As his thoughts careened through his mind a scowl worked its way across his face. Teeth grit and creaked under the pressure he exuded upon them.

Yes, he was forced to embrace the darkness, lied to, tricked, and cheated into it. He would have never – oh. His piercing gaze returned to the mirthful sack of rotting flesh in front of him and he grinned a Cheshire grin. He bent forward, hands reaching out and clasping the things head between his palms, before he chuckled as well.

"It's been a while Master," he greeted mockingly. His voice grew darker and guttural as he spoke, manic joy raging through his limbs, tickling his nerve endings as it did so. He lifted the thing up, staring into the empty and shattered windows of what had once been his soul, and watched in amusement as it dangled limply from his hands yet continued to laugh. "You are the last obstacle between me and my freedom, I'm sorry to say that we will have to part ways," he cooed, adjusting his hold on the creatures head to one hand while he pulled the other back to no doubt run him through.

"You are a fool."

He paused, staring blankly at the soul, and his arm lowered just a fraction in his surprise. Few souls ever remained sentient within him, rather, they gained a kind of hive-like mentality, but if somehow they managed to hold on to their individuality it did not last long. Within days they would be maddened and corrupted by what they saw within his own soul and retreat within themselves.

"Oh?" he questioned in interest. He dropped his arm to his side and lifted the creature above his head to get a good look at his down turned face.

"I am not your master, you idiot," it continued. Its mouth did not move as it spoke but its empty sockets and brows shifted as if it were.

"My mistake," he apologized dryly and dropped the thing to the ground carelessly, a little bit put out by the realization that he must have slaughtered the monster already without having realized it.

"Your master was never here," it said, laying sprawled across the ground like the corpse it was. It turned its head to look up at him.

He quirked a brow and turned to look back at the soul. "Impossible, how else would I have gotten my freedom?"

"You're a thick one," the soul observed and pushed itself into a sitting position. Its bones and joints creaked and popped as he moved. "I was the first, yes, but only because I summoned that demon and he possessed me."

He remained silent, now glaring at the thing sagging against the ground as if gravity itself was too much, while his mind raced with memories. Yes, the first vampire had come into existence because a human had summoned a demon for power and been tricked into becoming a monster. How familiar. He clenched his fists and felt immense raging bubbling up in his chest.

"When you returned and drank me dry he fled in a cloud of smoke and retreated into the wilderness," the thing explained darkly. "Had you actually defeated him there would not be as many vampires in the world as there are now, I had hoped you would have figured it out, but you were concerned with other things . . ." it sighed and grunted when its shoulder gave a horrendous squelch and seemed to dislocate on its own. "Now he's out there doing God knows what and you are stuck in here."

His face was shadowed by the wide brim of his hat when he asked, in a flat and dangerous tone, "His name?"

"Cain," it answered.

His white teeth shone in the shadows and he snorted, "How appropriate," he said and bent down in a crouch in front of the old soul. "Tell me, do you still believe in God?"

"Of course," the soul said in a sure tone. "If there are demons and monsters in this world then God himself must exist."

"Good," he remarked. "Then pray to him and I hope you know peace," he added, once again lifting his hand.

"I will," the soul responded in a tone that spoke of the obvious, as if the monster in front of it had asked it if the sky was blue. "Destroy that bastard and we can all rest in peace," it growled just as his hand tore through his chest and sunk through the cavity up to his elbow.

When the soul had dispersed into nothing but ash all of his flagging strength that had been slowly diminishing over the years returned in a wave of darkness. It washed through his being like an old friend, quenching an unknown thirst within him, and filling him with certainty. He felt it moving around him, pushing and pulling, like the currents of the ocean, coercing him up into consciousness. All around him, the darkness had overtaken his world, shrouded it from view, and continued to push and pull, stretching him across all that he had known for thirty years. Ahead of him a dim light began to appear through the clouds of shadow, it pierced the darkness, and he reached for it with a maniacal grin that spoke of the immense satisfaction nestling his dead heart. Yes, he had done the impossible, and he would return with a vengeance.

Mice. There were two mice sitting in front of her. She stared at them through slitted lids, feeling cold and slimy cement underneath her cheek, and wondered where she had ended up. Wherever she was was dark, dank, and reeked like the deepest tunnels of a sewer. Now that she thought about it, that was probably a likely candidate for her current location. There were two mice sitting in front of her face after all. One black and one white. Both with glowing red eyes.

"Vlad and Radu," she mumbled, pulling the names from the furthest corners of her aching mind.

She pushed herself into a sitting position, hearing her movements echo out across the dark expanse that seemed to lighten and form a surrounding picture the more awake and aware she became. As soon as she was sitting up the mice began to squeak and hop about in excitement, like children ready to play, and scampered around her in circles. She whipped her head back and forth, amused by their antics, and followed their progress around her.

"Alright, alright," she hushed, attempting to calm the creatures.

They obediently came to a stop, side by side in front of her, and sat back on their haunches patiently.

Satisfied with their behavior she climbed to her feet, brushing off the seat of her skirt, and let out a frustrated sigh. Now to figure out where she was, but more importantly, who she was. She was aware of her name and a few clear memories rattling about in her head, but she was positive there was more to her than the few recollections she could manage. Her parents had been murdered, she had lived in an orphanage, something about the police force . . .? Ugh. She rubbed at her head irritably and dropped her gaze down to the mice who had yet to move from their spots, lifting their snouts to follow her eyes as she stood.

"Do you know anything about this place?" she asked them curiously.

The white mouse dropped his gaze, seeming sheepish, while the black one let out a proud squeak and scurried off into the darkness. The white mouse watched him go before glancing back at the woman questioningly.

"I suppose we should follow him," Seras stated with a smile.

Together the two, Seras at a slow pace, and the mouse running to keep up, trailed after the black mouse.

It was disorienting to say the least, walking through the darkness that seemed to be lined with cement block walls and a flowing river of sewage to her right, not knowing how she had gotten there. Her memories were frustratingly fractured and the further she walked the more confusing they became. She recalled horrible things and nice things, funny, and strange, but they were not in order and left her head aching after each new memory resurfaced.

As they traveled further along the sewer took on a strange aspect. Doorways started to appear along the wall. At first they were simple wooden ones, doors she recalled from her childhood; her old bedroom door, the closet door, the back entrance to the orphanage, a classroom door, etc. But they were shortly joined by shop fronts and furniture. She felt as if she were walking down a street in London if it weren't for the cement walls and horrid smell that still overpowered her nose. Lights spilled out across the cement floor and were soon joined by the low chatter of people.

She could still make out the black mouse, scampering across the ground ahead of her, passing in and out of the shop lights and throwing his own shadow across the floor. But each time he did so his shadow became bigger, more grotesque, and utterly frightening. She was beginning to doubt her decision to follow him. She glanced down at the white mouse still scurrying along beside her warily. He seemed innocent enough.

She had been searching through the bars and shops as they passed and after having already been walking quite a ways down the supposed city street, she finally found a familiar face. She caught sight of him through the window, sitting at a table, casually talking to a . . . thing. She paused in their journey and scampered back a few steps, pressing her face against the glass of the bar, and stared in at her friend Eddie. He sat across the table from a rotting zombie-like corpse. And he was holding a one sided conversation with it as if it were a fellow co-worker and they had just gotten off the clock to enjoy a pint together. The zombie even had a bloody liver on a plate in front of it.

He must have spotted her through the window because he turned to her and called her name cheerily but she jumped back out of terror, seeing that the half of his face previously hidden behind his profile, was missing. Blood poured from the gaping wound and dribbled down over his police uniform. Right before her eyes his flesh rotted away.

She ran ahead, clutching her arms around herself, and pulled at a strand of hair while watching the black mouse ahead of her in a daze. Next to her the white mouse squeaked in concern.

Her paranoia was in full swing now. The black mouse's shadow grew into a monster with drooling jaws and spines, and she could swear there were wolves of some sort behind her. Growling with glowing eyes in the darkness, but she was too afraid to look to know for certain.

She was assaulted by horrible images that she could only assume were her memories, leading her to wonder what kind of life she had led in later years. Blood, gore, and broken bones flitted through her mind. Gunshots and screams, the sound of blades slicing cleanly through flesh, the smell of burning corpses. Bile threatened to spill from her mouth and she had taken to holding her hand in front of it as if to stem the oncoming flow. She felt sick and feverish and the white mouse beside he seemed to be swallowed by the shadows, she could no longer make out his figure, and his brother was nothing but a pair of fleeting red eyes that glanced back at her every once and a while blinking in and out of existence like a ghostly pair of lightning bugs in a demented forest. Like willow-the-wisps.

She ran forward to catch up to them but the more she struggled the further away the mouse seemed to be until he was gone all together. The lights had all gone out. She could no longer hear the distant chatter of people. The smell that she had grown used to doubled in strength and was now accompanied by the stench of rotting flesh. But she could feel monstrous creatures leering at her from every angle. Hear their grunts, growls, and hisses. Feel their breath on the back of her neck. Smell their breath.

She lurched into a run, fighting against the tears threatening to spill, and scampered through the darkness.

She was consumed by her panic and when a door appeared in front of her she did not hesitate to pull it open, light was thrown over her and through the darkness behind her, and she lunged forward and pulled it shut behind her.

The night had grown old and the sun was just peeking over the horizon when Andrews entered the room for what felt like the millionth time in only a handful of hours. He stared at the unconscious form of Seras, laid out on the bed with her boots and gloves removed. She was still dirty and covered in rotted blood despite his best efforts to clean her up but he could only do so much before she regained some form of awareness and battered him away in fright.

Radu had left before the sun could rise, claiming he had some matters to take care of, and Integra had retired to a fitful night of sleep, leaving him the only one to watch over Seras.

He had brought more blood with him, intent on once again getting something in her stomach in hopes of flushing out whatever had gotten into her. But he was losing hope. Any time he got even a drop of blood between her lips she would spit it back out, or worse, heave and sputter until she was vomiting over the side of the bed.

He set the cup down on the bedside table and sighed.

"Miss Victoria," he called, gently shaking her shoulder in hopes of rousing her from her nightmares.

Her eyes opened, covered in a strange film, and she stared at him in confusion for several seconds before tears welled up in them and spilled across her cheeks. He worried that even that small act would waste more of the precious then she could spare.

"Where've you been Walter?" she questioned in a distraught voice. She moved as if she were attempting to sit up but discovered she did not have the strength to move. "I had a dream you died and master left, and I didn't know what to do. I only had Integra and she was so depressed, I thought she was going to waist away and leave me too." She was sobbing now, reaching for him, her arms shaking against the strain of holding them up.

Andrews let out a shaky sigh and sat down next to her on the bed, not having the heart to correct her, and smoothed the hair away from her forehead while she wrapped her arms around his waist and curled around him awkwardly on the bed.

"I am sorry," he said lightly despite the tightness in his throat. Emotions settled in his chest and stomach, threatening to choke him. "I was held up, that was all," he continued.

"Did master hide your glasses again?" she asked with a voice thick with tears. "I think he just does that because he doesn't like the thought of you getting old," she chuckled.

"Quite," he responded simply. "Are you thirsty?" he asked hopefully.

"No," she answered, closing her eyes as unconsciousness threatened to take her once again. "I really want ice cream," she added tiredly.

"Miss Victoria, you don't eat ice cream," he reminded dully. "I have some blood for you on the table."

"Why would I want blood?" she asked in disgust but fell silent as she slipped away once more.

Andrews continued to pet her hair while she returned to her slumbers, absently wondering how she was going to recover if she still clearly believed she was human. She would not drink. She did not recognize the people around her. She was so far gone that he worried she would survive. And with every hour she grew frailer and more corpse like than he had ever seen.

The basement was dark and colder than Radu remembered. Being dead, of course, the cold did not bother him but it was nonetheless worrisome. They were in Florida, a state notorious for its hot weather and though they were underground he should not have been able to see his barely warmed breath fogging the air as he did. He watched the frost float away and dissipate absently, aware that he was being spoken to, but finding he did not have the heart to listen.

"Did you get our message?"

The voice of Flagler cut through his thoughts like ice and caused his eyes to widen in surprise. He lifted his head to gaze at the creature sitting within the high backed Victorian chair casually, one leg thrown over the other while his fist supported his head and his elbow rested and the arm of the chair, as if it were some social gathering he was attending. In all reality, this was a warning to Radu, who had been invited down into the basement not an hour before sunrise by a messenger. A little black butterfly, the preferred familiars of his master, had fluttered in through the open balcony window of the hotel room as innocent as could be. He had nearly had a heart attack at the sight of it and had rushed to scoop it out of the air, cupping into within his palms, and escaped unnoticed. If it had lingered within the room for much longer his master would have been made aware of his recent companions and their identities without a doubt.

He was to join Flagler and his master in the basement that morning over a late drink, a simple enough invitation, but it was obviously laced with dark intent.

"I did, your Highness, I will not make the mistake again. Please accept my apologies," Radu bowed low at the waist, his eyes open and staring at the cement blocks that made up the floor of the room. He would not make the mistake of getting caught again, anyways. He was through with being the meek little mouse his brother had once labeled him as. He had sat back for centuries while Elizabeth tortured him for amusement, had been unable to do anything about his brother's death, and was now forced to watch as his only blood relative left alive in the world withered away from blood poisoning. He would play the part no more. Elizabeth would no longer be referred to as his master. If he could not break his ties with her by drinking her blood then he would force his way out through sheer force of will. Nothing was impossible.

"I am glad to hear that," Flagler responded in a dry tone that spoke of boredom. He drummed a finger against the arm of the chair in quiet contemplation before he paused in his ministrations and sat forward just a fraction. "I've had word that a very curious person has shown up, one Seras Victoria, the only living vampire sired by Dracula himself," he said. He eyed Radu with poorly concealed amusement while he processed what he had just said.

"I do not know of whom you speak," Radu replied, layering his tone with as much confusion as he could muster, which, given the situation, was not hard. Anyone in their right mind would want to meet the only living Draculina after her sire's death, of course, but how had Flagler known of her presence within the city? He had not slipped up and given her away, any ghouls they had come across were destroyed, and as far as he knew, Seras had not spoken with any other vampires.

"I am sure you don't," Flagler said with a sickening smirk. "Regardless, I want to send her an invitation to the party. Would you be so kind as to deliver it to her?" he asked. One of his various familiars, a strange black creature that walked on two legs and wore a fox mask, stepped forward. It proffered a small envelope with gloved hands and waited silently for Radu to take it. When he had taken it after eyeing the paper, the familiar bowed, and the bells adorning the jesters hat it wore trilled lightly before it returned to the shadows at its master's side.

"Of course, sir," Radu answered curtly and bowed again.

"Good," Flagler smiled kindly. "Now be a good little fledgling and run along. Your master and I must have a talk."

Elizabeth stepped forward, stopping just to the left of the high backed chair and quirked her lips in the smallest of smirks at Radu, her red eyes boring into him, and watched as he bowed for the third time and made his retreat.

"Will he do as he is told?" Flagler asked her, his eyes never leaving the spot where Radu had stood not moments before.

"Oh, he will."

A new voice joined the two in the basement, followed by the dark cloaked figure and piercing blue eyes that had haunted the grounds for decades now. "He is an obedient little thing, always has been, even as a human. It was his brother who was the trouble maker." The creature chuckled darkly and glided over to a table against the far wall that held nothing but a single lit candle. He lifted his hands as if to cradle the flames while the two vampires watched him, Flagler tense and unsure, and Elizabeth in cold amusement.

"If only I had gotten a hold of his brother first," Elizabeth drawled. She strode over to the center of the room where Radu had stood not minutes before and let out a hefty sigh.

"You would not have been able to control him," Cain mumbled while he gazed into the fire, seemingly lost in a trance.

Elizabeth turned to face the creature with a scowl and opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off with a chuckle, "Do not think me to be belittling you. But that man nearly destroyed me as a newborn vampire by sheer force of will. You, my dear," he pinned her with a look over his shoulder, "Would not have survived."

Elizabeth shut her mouth with a click and lifted her nose into the air.

The men standing guard at the Hellsing Estate had been idle for four days now. They continued to train and practice, the house staff cleaned and cooked, and no visitors came calling for Sir Integra while she was away. They had heard no news from her and while they would have liked to assume that she and the other two were simply just enjoying themselves there was a niggling suspicion that all was not as it seemed.

"Trust your gut," the veterans would say. "Your strength aint worth shit when it comes to Vampires and neither are your brains in most cases. Instinct is what saves your ass," they would explain.

Well, they were all feeling it now.

Aaron, one of the few older members of the organization, having joined fifteen years after the attack on London at the age of twenty, was following his rout around the grounds that night. It was pretty much a pointless exercise as the whole estate was fenced and layered with motion sensors, weaponry, and cameras. It was more a formality than anything at this point. He was weighed down with his gear, rifle held within his hands as he walked over gravel and grass, and was just turning to head to the southern corner of the property when he noticed the strange hue that night air had taken.

He cocked his head curiously and scanned the grounds for any unusual lights, found nothing, and lifted his eyes to the sky where they froze in stunned surprise.

The moon was blood red. It loomed over the estate, leering down at him, and sent an intense surge of fear racing through his spine. Dark figures flitted across its face, squeaking and screaming in high pitch tones, as they gathered into a general cloud and spilled down towards the mansion.

Aaron took a step back in fright. The bats were diving towards the property with no regards for obstacles in their way. They smashed through the windows and engulfed the building in their shadows, filled it to the brim with their screams and fluttering wings, awakening the staff and sending everyone into a panic.

Maids screamed and hid under blankets and furniture. Butlers and laborers uselessly fought against them with whatever was within hands reach. And the soldiers struggled to maintain order, barking commands through facefulls of the furry creatures.

The staff fled for windows and doors, running to escape the seemingly never ending onslaught, and only froze in fright when a deep maniacal laughter echoed through the building and over the grounds. It sent thrills of fright rolling through their bodies.

The pool of staff who had collected within the foyer all stood still while the bats continued to flutter about them. It did not occur to them that, though the beasts were frantic in their cries and movements, they were not actually harming anyone. A kind of calm fell over them while the bats flew about, they stood transfixed by the voice, and waited.

The collection of the bats clustered together in the middle of the room while other continue to fly through the rafters, and from within their shroud a figure stepped forth. At first it was clad all in black, a skeletal figure emanating sick mirth, but as the bats seemed to dissipate within its form, a red coat fluttered into existence around the figure and fell about its ankles. A wide brimmed hat, glasses, and a Cheshire grin were soon to follow.

As he fully appeared the rest of the bats vanished within the depths of his coat and he leaned his head back, breathing in the air, black hair fell to his shoulders and seemed to absorb the light.

"I'm home."

His voice was deep and smooth, but light in tone, as he spoke. He cared not for the guns aimed at his chest. He lifted his arms and laughed again.

"Tell me, where has my master gone?" he asked the gathering of house staff in front of him.

The soldiers remained silent while they held onto their weapons, ignoring the way their aims quivered, while the maids and butlers coward. A tense moment of silence fell about the room while the demon in front of them waited patiently. It was only broken when an older woman shoved her way to the front. Her hair was salt and pepper, pulled into a messy bun at the top of her head, and she wore a stained apron over a black dress. She came to a stop at the front of the group, hands on her hips, and scowled at the creature.

"Shame on you," she snapped. "Frightening all the staff. Sir Integra would have your head if she knew what kind of behavior you were partaking in, in her absence."

The grin fell from the monsters face and he dropped his arms to his side. "Natalie," he greeted.

"Vampire," she returned the greeting gruffly.

He smirked, "I have worked all these years to return home only to find a household full of new children and no master in sight."

The soldiers had yet to lower their weapons, focused on the creature in front of them, but the staff had perked their ears in frightened curiosity.

"You don't deserve Sir Integra or Miss Victoria for that matter," she snapped. "They've gone off to America, if you must know, something to do with the Vatican and turning over a new leaf." She waved her hands in the air flippantly in irritation.

He cocked his head in thought. "How strange," he mused, "Making friends with the Vatican after all they have done . . ." he trailed off. He paused in the middle of his thoughts, feeling unfamiliar emotions roll over him from one of the few bonds he had left, and lifted a hand to his chin. "It appears they have run into some trouble, why have you not gone to them?" He turned his gaze onto a soldier, baring a significant badge marking him as one of the captains, and though his eyes were hidden behind the lenses the man could feel their intensity easily.

"We-," the man stumbled to respond, "We haven't heard anything . . .Sir?" He lowered his gun and straightened his posture, glancing at his men around him who refused to do the same without an order. "We've been sitting on our hands waiting to hear word from Sir Hellsing, but the lines have all been quiet, we assumed there was no trouble."

"Idiots," he drawled.

And like that he was gone. Whether he had run off down a hall, dispersed into a cloud of mist, or simply sunken through the floor, no one was sure. But the weapons room had been raided, a particularly dusty box unearthed from a collection and left thrown open, and the monsters miasma was vacant from the house hold.

The people gathered in the foyer were left there to ponder of what had just happened. Natalie, the one of the very few staff members who had been a part of hellsing before the war, simply grunted and dusted off her hands before returning to the kitchens to clean up after the "Bat Attack" muttering about egotistical Vampires.

Andrews rinsed out the now empty cup of blood, scrubbing at it with a rag found under the sink of the kitchenette, while his mind wandered in thought. He worried for Seras and his employer, who was far more stressed than he had ever seen her, and even the vampire Radu. It was a very precarious situation they had found themselves in: caught within the lion's den, unable to make a move. He was half tempted to call up the Vatican himself and be done with the petty rivalry they shared with the Hellsing Organization. He had not born witness to the attack on London, however, as he had lived far out in the country and was a child little more than five years old and that stayed his hand. He was a levelheaded person without a doubt because, while he yearned to reach out for the only help they could, he refused to act knowing that there were horrors he had not been made known of. When he had first join the organization he had gotten a brief history lesson and later snooped to find out more, but even Integra had not revealed all of what the Vatican had done while under the reign of Enrico Maxwell. He suspected it was why Integra could not move herself to trust them.

He set the cup on the counter next to the sink and stared at it forlornly for a moment, wishing that he had not had to dispose of the congealing blood, and that Seras had actually drunken it.

He was left to twiddle his thumbs while Integra slept and Seras dreamed of monstrous things. All the while the wolves gnashed their teeth on the outskirts of the campfire, waiting, and biding their time to attack.

He wished – for just a moment – that they were back at the estate and twiddling their thumbs out of boredom instead. Integra would be in her office, smoking away and sipping her tea, thumbing through paperwork. Seras would be outside supervising their men, barking out commands, or asleep at her desk after sorting through hours of her own paperwork. And he would be partaking the mundane household chores and overseeing the kitchen's preparations of the soldiers' next meal.

The tense silence that had filled the hotel room was suddenly shattered by a shout from Integra's room, followed by a gun shot, and the sound of furniture tumbling to the ground. And then Integra shouted.

"Alucard!"

Andrews turned as her bedroom door was thrown open and she stormed out, yelling at the top of her lungs, hair all astray and still clad in her light blue striped pajamas.

"You impudent, childish, piece of-," she cut herself off as she reached the desk and pulled out a cigar, tossing her pistol onto the desk top, and fumbled for a lighter.

From her room inky blackness swirled and a pair of leering reds eyes peered out into the morning light. Deep laughter rolled from the shadows and sent Andrews flesh crawling, his hand reached for the knife hidden within his coat sleeve.

"Is that any way to welcome back your most trusted and loyal servant?" the voice asked.

"You are neither of those things, Alucard, you bastard," Integra shot back at the darkness. As she spoke it seemed to recede, displaying her room once more as it should have appeared, with morning light streaming in through the blinds across the now disturbed room, and a figure melted into existence. "You are gone for thirty years and you expect me to welcome you back like nothing? Idiot," she groused, pulling on the now lit cigar.

"I apologize for my lateness," the tall man, clad in red and black, stepped out into the sitting room. He did not bother giving Andrews so much as a cursory glance. "Unfortunately, I had to lay waste to all the souls within me in order to return. It took longer than I expected." He fell silent, as if irritated with his own lack of efficiency, and grit his teeth.

Andrews took a step away from the monster and sat down on the nearest chair, proper manners be damned, but the creature radiated such an aura that he was struggling not to give into the sheer terror building in his chest. The beast standing casually in the center of the room was of a caliber he had never born witness to before in his life. He was a predator without a doubt, the smell of blood clung to him as if he had just soaked in a tub of it not minutes before, and his grin spoke of confidence born from experience. An era's worth of experience in the art of bloodshed and torture. He leaned forward and clasped his hands together to hide the way they shook and watched as Integra lectured him like a child.

Integra dropped into the chair behind the desk with a tired sigh. It spoke of years preparing for that very moment and it was obvious that she had planned for it to go in a whole other direction but the situation did not allow it. She had waited for thirty years for the man in front of her to make his reappearance and she had not expected it to be so sudden and anticlimactic as her simply rolling over in her sleep and finding his eyes leering at her with a grin.

"I've returned to you, my countess," he bowed at the waist and swept his arm out, "and just in time." He straightened, "Baskerville tells me you have gotten yourself into quite the predicament."

Integra glowered at him over her clasped hands but took a moment to organize her thoughts before responding. "It seems your death had more of an effect on the world than I could have imagined," she began through grit teeth.

Alucard turned away from her and moved over towards one of the windows where he stood with his arms crossed.

"Without you they felt leaderless and flocked to the next most powerful vampire. A creature that goes by the name of Flagler, the very man that made this city what it is today, and he claims he is going to introduce the existence of vampires to the whole world and begin an era of peace," Integra continued in a flat tone.

Alucard half turned to look back at her, a blank expression on his face, before he laughed. "That's great," he exclaimed, "Our two worlds will never see eye to eye. It was not meant to be. How curious."

"Yes, well, after some investigation we have concluded that he has something very different planned, as you would expect," she responded.

"I have no doubt," he agreed and once again fell silent, turning back to the window. The daylight streamed in around him and painted him orange. He stood there, ageless and somber, and seemed to be caught within his own mind. Something Integra had rarely seen him do.

"Is something wrong?" she asked warily, unsure if he was still the same person she had grown to know over the years.

He was silent for a few moments before letting his arms fall to his sides. "It is strange . . ." he lifted his gaze to the clouds, "my mind is the clearest it has ever been in centuries. My head is empty of so many voices . . ." He turned away from the window and sat down in the chair next to Andrews, silent as the grave, and crossed his legs and rested his arms on the armrests, posing a regal image even from Andrews point of view. "I had grown used to their voices, constantly running in the background, and now . . . all is silent."

Integra set the cigar down in an ashtray and stared at him, bewildered by his sudden change in character, and was stumped on how to respond.

Upon seeing her expression the vampire laughed, revealing his fangs, "Tell me more about this Flagler and what the Vatican has to do with all of this. I am bored and hungry and ready to return to the slaughter."

That was more like it.

She was in a familiar room. A dinner table set up at one end where a doorway led to the kitchen, and a light blue couch and brown coffee table sat at the other end of the room. A television was on, some sports game playing, while voices filtered in from the kitchen.

"Not yet, David," a woman said followed by the sound of a light slap.

"Mum!" Seras cried, rushing around the dining room table and into the kitchen.

She remembered this day. Her father had invited some friends over to watch the soccer game and her mother had prepared all kinds of snack food for them to eat during and her father had kept picking at the various plates before anyone had even arrived. She could recall the day down to every little detail. She remembered the dress her mother had worn and the way her father's hair had sat with an awkward cowlick that refused to stay down. He had come home late the night before from work.

She entered the kitchen, hopeful and overjoyed at the thought of seeing them once more, but froze. The scene that awaited her was not the one she remembered. The food her mother prepared sat atop the counters, rotted and covered in maggots, the lights had burnt out and gathered cobwebs, and the stench that reached her nose was overpowering. Their bodies were sprawled across the ground and half rotted. Gore dribbled from their eyes and mouths, their organs displayed from long decomposing wounds, and rats were gnawing on their bones and flesh.

At the sight of her they all turned with glowing eyes and hissed.

She slammed the door shut behind her with wide eyes and vomited on the beige carpet. Blood splattered across the fibers and sickened her further. Was there no escape from the gore? The horror that assaulted her every time she turned around? Her insides were shoving their way up her throat and her heart was pounding so hard she felt like she was going to pass out. She couldn't breathe, she was choking on nothing and everything all at once, and she couldn't breathe!

Blue eyes watched from the shadows. Reveled in her distraught terror and chuckled. He had crawled through every crevice of her mind, analyzed every memory she had, and knew all her secrets by that point.

Using the ghouls as lures had been one of his favorite tricks for as long as he could remember. Gaining access to any vampire dumb enough to latch their maws onto the disgusting creatures was one of his favored past times. He had learned much about the world through this technique while he hid in the darkness and it had served him well. He was aware of their presence now, knew that both Hellsing and the Vatican were no more than a stone's throw away and planned on using it to his advantage. Not only would he be able to make his mark on the world but he could destroy two of his most powerful foes at the same time.

And he had a new pet to play with on top of it all!

It was about time. He was tired of watching from the shadows as humanity set themselves on the slow path to destruction. He was ready to change it all in his favor like he had originally planned all those hundreds of years ago when he had first clawed his way up from the roiling depths of hell. It had been getting far too crowded down there for his liking. He could destroy damned soul after damned soul but hundreds more would move in to take their places.

Now that the only true threat to his existence was conveniently removed from the face of the planet he could move about freely without fear. The vampires were blind fools, running to the next strongest creature for protection and guidance, and he had offered it to them through Flagler, the face of his plans. A few more souls and he would be more powerful than any monster who had ever walked the Earth. Stronger even then God himself.

He laughed again and withdrew from the mind of Seras Victoria, leaving her with more terrors than she had yet faced, and returned to the basement.

Andrews had prepared tea for Integra while she spoke with her servant, and even went so far as to offer a cup of medical blood to the vampire, before once more returning to his seat. He slouched within the cushioned chair and looked for all the world like an eighty year old man whose life had just ended.

The vampire drank the blood like a starved animal, gulping the liquid down with such veracity that Integra forced herself to look away. He set the glass down on the table atop the maps they had been pouring over not a day before and leaned back in the chair.

"Where is the Police Girl?" he asked, interrupting Integra's retelling of the fiasco that was their investigation. He had grown bored with the tales quickly and was itching to wreak havoc but the thought of his fledgling had niggled its way into his much more spacious mind and taken up root in the very center. He had not felt her presence since his return even though he had clearly felt the bond with his familiar.

Integra paused in her continued explanation and sent a glance to Andrews cautiously. It was her way of telling him to let her handle the situation. He was fine with that, he had not planned on opening his mouth in the presence of the monster, lest he draw his attention.

"Seras is resting right now, she has fallen ill," Integra said calmly, lightly, and belittled the situation to the best of her abilities.

"Ill?" Alucard drawled warningly, knowing what Integra was playing at, and gripped the armrests of the chair in restrained irritation.

"Yes," Integra muttered. "She was out searching for a vampire and ran into some ghouls."

While she spoke Alucard had stood and began moving towards the only other closed bedroom door in their room.

"We think she drank from one in a frenzy-," she fell short as the vampire threw the door open and stared into the darkened room in anger. He radiated such hate in that moment that Integra had bit her tongue and Andrews had jumped to his feet, worried for the safety of Seras.

"Ill?" Alucard questioned again, turning a glare onto the woman sitting behind the desk, "This is not 'Ill', this is dying." He stepped into the room and slammed the door shut behind him, now understanding why he had not been able to feel her through their bond, her mind was locked away deep within her while her body slowly decayed.

He stood at the side of the bed, eyeing the prone figure beneath the covers, noting the stench of rotted blood that rolled from her and accumulated sickness from her previous episodes resulting in the expelling of the liquid. He scowled, prodding her mind through their bond for any sort of response, and ran into a wall of darkness so thick that he himself did not even bother wasting the energy in penetrating. He was not yet strong enough to master the darkness as he had before. It would require far more souls than he currently had within him.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and tried a different tactic. Instead, he turned to his own mind and searched through the vast, now emptied, void of his own soul. He had spent that past thirty years clearing it out but there was one soul, at least part of it, that he had hidden away to remain untouched. He returned to it now, hidden amongst the fortresses of the past, and opened the door that had acted as protection against his own destruction.

She sat at a windowsill, wearing nothing but a white gown, and stared out through the grimy glass absently. Through that window a world of peace and laughter could be seen, something she had created on her own to brighten the darkness that was him, and it was something he had allowed in hopes to retain some of her innocence. Years down the road, when she had finally drank from him and reclaimed her freedom, she would also regain the things she had unknowingly lost in her death and rebirth.

"Seras," he called, shutting the door behind him and silencing the overpowering quietness that was the void.

She turned to look at him, blue eyes bloodshot and watery tears streaking down her face, and let out a distraught huff of air signaling the beginnings of a sob.

"Why won't it stop?" she asked through the tears. She had pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them as if to hold herself together, but it proved to be of little help.

Alucard did not move from his spot next to the door, he stood their silently, analyzing the girl in front of him wordlessly. His lips were pressed together and a slight wrinkle between his brows were all that gave away his emotions.

"Everything was okay, we were doing okay," she mumbled, "and then everything went wrong."

"What happened?" he finally said.

She turned her gaze back towards the window and tightened her grip on her knees. "I don't know, I was searching . . . for somebody. Somebody important . . ." she trailed off in frustration. "And I got angry and did something stupid. It was supposed to help . . ." she fell quiet and rubbed at her forehead.

She would not be able to give him a detailed answer. She was only a fragment of her true self and the best she could give him was the emotions she had been feeling at the time, but it was still better than nothing.

He stepped forward and rested a gloved hand atop her head, ruffled her hair, before turning to leave. "Don't worry about it," he said over his shoulder before shutting the door behind him and returning to the real world.

The fragment of Seras watched the door for a moment, sniffling in an attempt to calm herself, and returned to watching the ocean view outside the window. It only calmed her momentarily before the horrible images assaulted her again and she was left to curl up in fear by herself.

Alucard stood and reentered the sitting room where Integra had not moved from her seat behind the desk and the butler had gone to wash the dishes that had used previously. He blew through the room and reached for the door, drawing his master's attention as he did so. He was half way out the door before she demanded to know where he was going.

"For a walk," he threw back to her, and shut the door behind himself. If he wanted to help Seras than he would need more than just a fraction of her soul and Baskerville to do so. He intended on gorging himself on the darkest, most twisted, beings he could find and thanks to the science experiment catastrophe that he had ingested thirty years ago it would be easier than ever.

Integra watched him leave before letting out a sigh and pushing herself to her feet.

"Is he always like that?" Andrews asked. He had finished washing up after tea and was standing with a drying rag in hands, wiping away the rest of the water.

"Yes," she grumbled.


	8. Chapter 8

A young man, looking to be in his early twenties, swaggered down a street somewhere off the west coast of Florida. He had just left a party, raging with drunken teens, and had succeeded in scoring with one of the many girls he considered to be whores. It hadn't really taken that much effort really. She had already been drunk and looking to score herself, really, he didn't have to drug her to get with her. But where was the fun in that? Whether or not her lifeless body was laying in the ditch over the backyard fence of the house was of little consequence to him at the end of the day. It wasn't his first anyways.

He yawned and turned around a corner into an alley, reaching for the zipper of his pants, and was about to relive himself when something caught his eye.

A man stood further down the alley, his figure just out of reach of the streetlights, and watched him with a grin.

The boy smirked, "Sorry man, didn't realize this one was already taken."

"It's quite alright," the man responded, revealing a shark like grin. "Don't mind me."

The boy scowled and zipped up his pants, "Hey man, don't go getting any ideas, I don't swing that way."

"That's a pity," the shadow responded.

The last thing that boy ever saw was the teeth and glowing red eyes of a demon and for the first time in his short life he understood what his victims had felt like and even as his life was drained away he pissed himself in fright.

He feasted on all the trash he could find, embracing their madness like a long lost friend, and only momentarily regretted the loss of his recent sanity. He felt their bloodlust, their terror, and destruction flow through his veins and flexed his fingers experimentally. He scoured every alleyway and abandoned building, every death row of every prison within a hundred mile radius, and gorged himself beyond content. He searched out every low level demon, every myth and legend, and drained them too. He regained the use of his shadows, his familiars, and cackled all the while.

He flitted across the world, appearing from shadows, and attacked any he saw fit. And while he reveled in his new abilities and wondered what kind of enemy he would be facing next. But in the back of his mind the darkness hungered for another monster in particular, one he had not laid eyes on in nearly six hundred years.

He did not return until late in the day, reeking of blood and gore, and buzzing on a high he had not felt since the attack on London.

Integra had spent the day wrestling with her conscience. It was true that Alucard had returned and with his appearance she had calmed down significantly, enough for Andrews to notice, but they were still stuck in a bind. The Vatican would have to be contacted. It was, in all technicality, their territory that was in danger of attack. While memories of the passed tortured her she could not help but hold onto a vain hope that Pope Francis would be able to begin anew like he so said. There seemed to be a lot of that around these day, she thought, and opened her laptop, debating.

Alucard reappeared shortly after she had shut her laptop for what felt like the hundredth time. He wore his usual grin and strode into the room demanding both their attention without speaking a word.

"How soon can you have Seras on her feet again?" Integra asked, cutting right to the chase, already knowing what he been out doing just by the way his eyes gleamed behind his glasses.

"A few hours," he answered. "I need some time to digest." He reclaimed the high backed chair he had sat in before and once again took up a regal pose.

Andrews was beginning to wonder if he did it on purpose when the meaning of his words finally dawned on him and he stared at the vampire in amazement. He had gone hunting? Hadn't he given him a pack of blood already, it was normally enough to sate Miss Victoria's hunger well enough. What kind of an appetite did the beast have? What poor soul did his drain?

"Should I get media coverage?" Integra asked, businesslike, and once again opened her laptop.

"No," Alucard answered simply. "The majority were already on death row and those that weren't would have been soon." He removed the glasses from his eyes and set them on the table next to them, blinking in the remaining day light, and then removed his hat to join the glasses.

"Most?" Andrews spoke up from beside Integra.

Alucard turned his glowing eyes onto the butler thoughtfully and cocked his head, "Of the hundreds that I claimed today." He drummed his fingers, wishing he had a glass of wine just to busy his hands while he rode out the blood buzz that ran through every nerve. "I hope you did a thorough background check on this one," he commented moments later.

Integra crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, "and I suppose I should have done one for Walter?"

"Apparently," Alucard drawled.

"You knew him far longer than I had, you were my background check," Integra shot back irritably.

"Trusting me to be a good judge of character?" Alucard said with a quirked brow.

Integra sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Naturally he had a decent point, why on Earth would she trust him to be a good judge of character? He was pleased with anything dark and gruesome.

Andrews snapped his mouth shut and struggled not to turn away from the vampire lest he seemed rude and simply remained at Integra's side. It was not his place to question his employer or her other employees and he had already broken many other rules and guidelines since they had arrived within the old city and he did not plan on breaking anymore.

There was an awkward tense couple of hours while Alucard 'digested' his meal and settled the souls within him. It was more difficult then he remembered. In the past any new victim that joined the ever growing army within him would be pummeled by the rotting souls and, if not immediately, still gave up hope relatively quickly and allowed the darkness to overtake them. The beasts within him at that moment were all roiling and fighting amongst each other in a panic. He would not admit to the amount of energy and force needed to retain them but it was far greater than he was used to.

Integra paced and Andrews resorted to sorting and cleaning his weapons while they waited impatiently. It was when the moon had risen and the first clustering of stars appeared in the sky that Alucard stood from his chair abruptly.

"Leave us," he said, breaking the nervous atmosphere that had slowly been drowning them.

Integra looked over from her perch on the balcony where she was smoking the last cigar of the most recent pack. Andrews paused in his work and turned to watch the two from his seat at the table where his weapons were carefully displayed.

"What was that?" she asked irritably, annoyed by his demanding tone. She ignored the cool breeze that blew her hair about and into her face.

"Leave, having you here while I reclaim what is mine will only be an annoyance," he explained darkly and moved towards the closed bedroom door where a dying Seras still rested.

"Sir Integra, you have not eaten today, perhaps you should take this opportunity to do so," Andrews offer as he stood. He set the rag he had been using for his weapons down on the table.

Integra leveled a glare in his direction but nonetheless flicked the butt of her demolished cigar into the street below and came back into the room, shutting the glass door behind her. "As you wish," she muttered.

The two left quickly after that but Integra, ever the one to have the last word, turned back at the door and shot the vampire an intense look before saying, "If you screw this up I will hang you from a flag pole in the sun by your britches for all the world to see." The door slammed shut behind her, leaving the vampire to stare at the door from the corner of his eye with a smirk.

The room Seras was in was darker than the rest of their suit. The curtains were still drawn, blocking out the soft moonlight, and pitched the occupants in shadow. Alucard stood over her from the bedside, watching her shifting expressions interestingly, before lifting a hand and placing a finger at the center of her forehead.

Through his mind's eye he encountered the darkness from before, it was cold and immense, it towered far above his head and loomed like a storm cloud. Behind it he knew were the horrors that Seras had been suffering in his absence. From just her facial expressions he had been able to gauge what kind of tortures were going on deep within her mind.

He stepped forward, lifting his gloved hand to the black wall, and pushed against the surface. It gave under his strength and rippled, like black water, and his pushed forward through the coldness. It morphed around his figure as he moved through it and sooner than he expected he stepped out into moonlight.

Had it been anyone else they would have been disoriented by the sudden change. He had been in her mind, in a dark bedroom, and was suddenly standing in the grass outside of a familiar church. There were no crickets to serenade the night, however, instead the air was filled with terrified cries of his fledgling. The scent of blood was heavy and forced him into a slow walk after the sounds. Had there been any real danger of Seras losing her life he would have simply used the shadows to locate her, but he knew exactly where she would be, and there was a sick morbid curiosity within him begging to see what took place. To relive the night he had turned her and see the look of defiance in her eyes as she shot that piece of trash freak in the face.

He arrived on the scene just as he had thirty years ago, the only exception was that there were far more ghouls than he remembered and a handful of unfamiliar faces that he could only assume were from her past. The church was on fire. And the moon was bright red and leering down over the two figures in the center of the crowd.

He watched and waited, observed the horror on his fledglings face when the vampire gripped her chest and threatened rape. He watched as the ghouls riled and cried out in very human voices for her death. And he waited for the moment when her savior would appear in red to put an end to the horror.

But as time worn on and the threats turned into action he realized and understood. This was not a simple memory brought up in her fevered sleep. This was a night terror. Her worst fears come to life. And once that fact dawned on him anger welled up within his chest, burning hot and righteous, determined to protect what was his.

He growled and stepped forward, pushing through the throngs of the undead that ignored him as he past, and stepped into the circle they had created.

"Police Girl," he intoned darkly. His red eyes glowered at the scene in front of him. She lay on the ground with the freak on top of her, pulling at her clothes and cackling like a madman.

She did not answer him.

"Seras!" he snapped, growing irritated with her ignorance of his presence. He was only answered with a cry of frustration and fear on her part.

"Seras Victoria."

This time it was quiet, and spoken directly into her ear.

Blue eyes turned to take in the crouched figure next to her, unfocused and confused, until they sharpened with recognition. But it was not relief that he saw in those tear filled eyes but terror that quickly morphed into anger.

"Wake up," he ordered.

He retreated from her mind then, coming back to himself smoothly, and turned his gaze onto Seras who had yet to awaken. He leaned over her, waiting for a sign of waking, and was caught off guard when her eyes snapped open and she threw a wide punch at his jaw. The hit sent him tumbling into the wall next to her bed and caused a painting to fall from its hanging next to his head. The glass shattered as it hit the ground and marked the beginning of tense moment of silence. A wide grin spread across his face and he chuckled, rubbing at his jaw, and eyed the weakened figure on the bed. The punch had taken all she had left and she was now sprawled across the covers panting in distress.

"It's good to see you too, Police Girl," he drawled.

Seras lifted her eyes to him and paused. Recognition flitted across her face before she dropped her head onto the bed and let out a weak sigh. "What's going on? Walter keeps coming in here and he won't let me sleep?" she asked weakly, throwing an arm over her face to block out the nonexistent light.

"You're sick," he stated dryly, the smirk falling from his face as he returned to the bedside.

"It's just a hangover," she mumbled and turned over onto her side, pulling a pillow into her arms a burying her face into it. "Eddie bought me a drink because I made my first arrest . . ." she trailed off. She seemed to be ignorant of the horrors she had been experiencing throughout the day and night while she weakened.

"You're dying," he added. His eyes glowed in the darkness.

"Wha?" she lifted her face enough to stare at him in confusion.

"Enough of this," he interrupted her question and lifted his wrist to his mouth. His fangs pierced his cold flesh and brought the freshly taken blood to the surface. "Drink my blood and you can rest," he ordered, holding the limb out to her mouth.

"Ugh," she grunted and pushed his arm away. "What is wrong with all of you, quite trying to shove that stuff down my throat, I just need some water and asprin and I can get back to work."

Alucard growled and grabbed at her wrists with one hand, holding them firm against the mattress and pressed the bleeding wound against her lips. She screamed in anger behind closed lips and attempted to turn her head away but his wrist followed her every move.

"Drink or I will force it down your throat," he snarled in anger.

His figure towered over hers, threateningly, and sent thrills of terror running through her. All she could see of him was his shadowed form and his glowing red eyes glowering at her from the darkness. She smelled blood. And it was all she could do not to cry but the tears welled up despite her best efforts. She shook her head in a feeble attempt to refuse and was rewarded with a frustrated growl as he pulled away and stared down at her irritably. She sobbed and buried her face within the pillow again to muffle her cries.

He hissed in disbelief and turned away from her. Curse her and her tears. He peered at her over his shoulder while his mind raced with unknown thoughts but he soon turned back to her. Slowly, bordering on gently, he sat down on the side of the bed and sighed. She was not right in the head, that much was obvious, and it was easy to discern that she thought herself still human. In her messed up mind she had created a world where she was both a policewoman and a member of Hellsing and there was a distinct lack of monsters. While she was asleep she was assaulted by nightmares from her past but while she was awake she was in a dream created to sooth her soul. An interesting defense mechanism but not something he was truly interested in. No, he wanted to see her as the true vampire he had no doubt she had become in his absence.

"Seras."

His now calm voice broke through her cries and drew her muddled attention to him. He watched her from over his shoulder, feeling her wary gaze on him, and fell silent. He waited a moment before lifting his wrist to his lips and pulling the coppery liquid into his own mouth. Satisfied with the amount he had drawn from his own flesh he turned to her and placed a hand behind her head, pulling her closer to him despite her protests, and bent down, placing his mouth on hers.

She gasped, parting her lips out of disbelief and shock, which allowed him push the blood into her mouth. As soon as the liquid had spilled across her tongue she froze and swallowed out of reflex. It slithered down her throat and into her stomach where it spread its warmth and sent small sparks of energy buzzing within her. The action awoken the need for more within her and she lunged forward, pushing Alucard back, and latched onto his neck with no remorse.

He tensed, not having expected her to react so strongly in her emaciated state, and grunted against the uncomfortable feeling of someone else's fangs on his jugular. It had been nearly a century and a half since his last fledgling had drunken his blood and he had grown unused to the feeling of such actions. He supported himself against the mattress with his other hand, feeling lightheaded at the rate she was draining him, and sighed in resignation. He would have to replenish after this and the thought irritated him.

Several minutes later he felt her pause, withdrawing her fangs from his flesh, and tremble at the realization of what she had just done. He pulled away and rubbed at his neck before dropping his gaze to the blonde vampire who was now staring up at him with very clear and horrified eyes.

"Master?" she questioned fearfully.

He smirked, "Not anymore, Seras."

"What? No-." she lifted her hands to her head, her eyes growing empty and vacant while she searched her mind. There was no reassuring presence within her head. Even when he was gone she had felt him, known he was alive and fighting, even heard his voice at times, but now there was nothing but the silence of her own thoughts. She felt utterly empty and vacant and her full belly was no form of compensation for the kind of hollowness that plagued her now. It was like finding yourself in a horribly unfamiliar location with no way of contacting anyone, without food or money, forced to start over from scratch in a foreign culture. She wanted to say that it was like being taught how to ride a bike by a parent, their steady hand on the bars while you wobbled about before they let go, but she was not riding down a pleasant neighborhood street, no, she was careening through darkness and madness while wolves snapped at her heels and bayed for blood.

Once again the smirk fell from his face while he watched her. And the tears spilled from her eyes once again while she grabbed his shoulder in an attempt to reassure herself of his presence.

When had he returned? Her mind raced. She had been out searching for Radu and saw Baskerville . . .Of course! He must have returned while she was away, but why hadn't Baskerville just led her to him? Why had he forced her to drink his blood? She had been sick? Her head pounded and she groaned through her tears.

Alucard pulled her forward, guiding her head to his shoulder, and smoothed his hand through her hair. He was silent as the grave while her mind spun. Eventually, though, he did speak: "It had to be done," he explained in a soft tone, "You were dying."

She wiped at her tears and nodded her head in understanding but could not control the intense sadness that was washing over her in waves. She had finally gotten her master back and lost him in the same night. She was just glad he pitied her enough to allow her the close contact. She could not imagine the heartbreak she would have felt had he simply told her to toughen up and left the room like she had half expected him to.

"Rest now, Seras, you need to recover your strength," he muttered and leaned back, assured that she would not topple over, and stood.

"Wait!" she cried, reaching a hand out for him even as he moved away.

He stopped and looked back at her, annoyed with her clingy behavior, but reminding himself that the majority of his fledglings had done the same. He himself had never been a true fledgling to begin with and had never experienced the loss that Seras was. He had felt triumphant to rid himself of the nauseating presence of the demon roosting in his head. But then, he had been more of a guardian figure to Seras, a teacher and friend, not some dark voice whispering foul deeds in her ear.

He sighed, an oddity in itself, and returned to his seat at her side. He said no more to her while she laid back in the bed and pulled the covers over her shoulders but could not hide the scowl on his face when she reached out and wrapped a hand around his.

She fell asleep with a peaceful expression and he was forced to stay be her side, unwilling to cause her more grief.

...

Radu stormed through the streets of St. Augustine, the aged envelope crumpled within his angered grip, and made quite the intimidating image. The night was still relatively young and people still filled the streets but as the enraged vampire passed they quickly moved out of his path sensing that, if they did not, their lives would be in danger. Not true really, Radu would never blatantly murder somebody for such a trivial reason, but he paid them no mind at the time. His dress shoes clacked against the cobblestone as he forged a path through the crowds to the Santa Monica Hotel.

He had gone through a major growth of character within a twenty four hour time span and he was still reeling from it. Gone was the timid creature eager to please those higher than him, gone was the blind fool happy to follow whatever grand new cause was born, and gone was the coward.

He grit his teeth at just the memory of the person he had been not a day before. He hadn't changed for centuries and he felt like an ass for not doing so. But a dear friend's life was in danger, he had been led astray, and he would stand for it no longer.

He pushed the glass doors of the front entrance open and strolled into the main lobby determinedly. He would tell Sir Hellsing all that had transpired and would figure what to do from there. He would take Seras and flee with her if that was what had to be done. He would not let Flagler have his way even if it meant his death.

The plush red carpeting softened his already light footsteps and the lack of hard flooring underneath his shoes calmed him for some reason, as if he had thrived off of the satisfying tempo his shoes beat out on the marble flooring off the lobby and the cobblestone before that. He slowed his pace and climbed up the rest of the staircase in a more composed manner. He stood at the top and straightened his three piece suit before striding over to their room and pausing at the door, he could hear them talking from within.

"She looks much better than before," Integra's voice filtered through the door.

"Yes, she does not seem so malnourished," Andrews agreed.

"Well done, Servant, perhaps you aren't as useless as I was beginning to think," Integra commented dryly.

Seras was getting better? His mind raced with excitement. Thank the heavens she was improving, he had begun to fear for her un-life, a fact he found distantly amusing. He glanced down at the crumpled envelope, reminded of its existence when it crinkled in his hold, and his anger returned with a strong sense of righteous courage.

Now was not the time to dawdle, he admonished, and pushed the door open. He stepped into the room, accidentally throwing the door against the wall in his hurry, and glanced about in search of Sir Hellsing. It had been a while since had had actually used a door and not the shadows to travel but he did not dwell on his slip up for long.

"Sir Hellsing!" he called to the woman who was seated at the desk as per usual. Andrews was standing in front of the couch, which was turned away from the door, and staring down at who he assumed to be Seras. She must have been curled up on the couch if the wisp of blonde hair sticking up over the top was anything to go by. A man sat at the other end of the couch, the only details he could get from the back of his head was his black hair. For a second he felt rather guilty for barging into the room without first checking to see who was in it. He might have ruined a meeting or even an attempt at gaining new information but he brushed it aside and reassured himself that what he had to tell them was far more important than what anyone else would have for them.

Integra stared wide eyed, surprised by his entrance, and nearly dropped her cigar. "Yes?" she prompted in a hesitant tone.

"There's been a development," he explained, shutting the door behind himself and moving over to the desk. In his haste he nearly knocked over the end table to the couch but he ignored that slip up as well. He lifted the envelope for the woman to see before he set it down atop the desk and smoothed it out while he spoke. "I was summoned back to the College earlier this morning, my apologies for leaving without a word, but I was to have a meeting with Flagler. Now I had been caught snooping, need I remind you, so I was certain it was going to be the end of me. If not my death, then I would at least get a round of torture the likes of which I have never known, either way I was going to pay for it. So there I was, standing before this supposed new King," here he broke off and scowled before continuing, "and he simply asks if I understood his message. To which I replied with firm assurance that I did and I would not make the mistake again. Then gives me this!" He lifted the envelope which he had been struggling to unwrinkle while he spoke, he pulled the contents out and handed the paper to Integra who scanned the message as he continued. "He asked me to deliver this to Seras Victoria and invite her to the ball of all things," he rubbed at his face in frustration and straightened from his previous position hunched over the desk. "I don't even know how he knows about her. I certainly was careful about her presence here. Has she spoken with other vampires in the city?" He trailed off in deep contemplation, lifting a hand to his chin and took a step back.

Integra finished reading through the letter and glanced up after the vampire's ramblings had ended. She opened her mouth to respond but paused upon realizing the situation they were in.

Radu ignored her and threw up his hands in frustration, "I just don't get it. Surely he would know Seras was still a part of Hellsing? He must be playing more of those damned political games," he groused and moved to pull off his coat. He threw it over to the chair resting in the corner and turned his eyes to the couch to see Seras for himself.

Really, the only way to explain what occurred next was to compare it to a picture or maybe even a movie put on pause, because everyone in that room froze. Andrews himself, who had been standing by the couch stood still the entire time Radu had rambled and Integra had stopped as soon as her eyes had lifted from the letter and met the utterly speechless figure of her servant. He sat there on the couch, one leg thrown over the other, hands clasped above his lap, but where the usual grin would have been was nothing but a blank slate of shocked disbelief. She had never seen him wear such an expression in her life.

The brothers made eye contact for the first time in nearly six hundred years and it seemed as if they were trying to convey all that they had missed within that gaze because they did not break that eye contact for several minutes. Radu stood frozen, arms now limply hanging at his side.

Radu was the first to show any kind of reaction. He stepped to the side, turning to face his brother full on and let out a nervous and very forced chuckle. He tugged at one of the longer locks of hair that framed his face, "Brother, I-," he tried to explain. Tried to convey how much he had suffered over the centuries, how much he had missed his presence, how often he had simply thought of ending it all just so he could see his loved ones again and maybe one day even his brother. But he couldn't. The words jammed in his throat and he choked.

Alucard stared. Nothing had actually registered within his mind as he was still in denial over the creature in front of him and what his continued existence meant. What he must have suffered. The child he had grown up with was an image of innocence and positivity, even as hostages he had played the part of a happy young thing, bent on brightening the world. The person that stood before him was haunted and dead. His grip on his clasped hands tightened and strained against the white fabric of his gloves and his blank expression quickly morphed into one of rage. Eyes glowed and teeth grit together in an animalistic snarl that had Andrews backing away and Integra standing from her seat behind the desk in worry.

"Who?" he managed to force between his clenched teeth. They snapped shut after he had finished the word with enough force to bite through a limb, the resulting sound caused Radu to flinch.

"It's me," he answered, confused and hurt by the tone. "Your broth-."

He was cut off by Alucard, who shook his head and ground out: "No, who did this?"

Radu looked at him in distress and confusion before it dawned on him and he dropped his eyes to the floor. The intricate patterned carpet suddenly had his full attention.

"What street walking gutter whore dared to touch you with her putrid rotting fangs?" Alucard snarled. He pushed himself up from the couch, hands shaking in barely controlled rage, and loomed over the smaller vampire like an enraged demon.

"Alucard-," Integra warned him but the vampire shot her such an intense look of hatred that her mouth slammed shut and she pursed her lips in frustration. But she understood, this was something he wanted to handle on his own, in this situation it was she who was the outsider for a change.

Andrews had stepped up to Integra's side protectively but he saw now that there was no need for such a thing as Alucard's attention was focused fully on his younger brother.

Radu clenched his fists at his sides and huffed, struggling to control his emotions, and lifted his gaze to the ceiling in an attempt to blink back the bloody tears threatening to spill. His brother's rage was one thing he could never stand, he always managed to make him feel like a failure with every word he threw at him in those moments, and now was no different. "I-," he fumbled to force out an explanation and paused, spitting out a rather inappropriate curse instead, and lifted his hands to his face in frustrated humiliation.

Alucard growled and turned his eyes to the window, refusing to see his brother in such a state, he had always been the more innocent and emotional of the two. He blamed himself for that, he had spoiled him with his attentions while the rest of the family ignored them, it was his own doing. He clenched his fists and turned back to Radu who was wiping at his eyes and struggling to regain his composure. To hell with this. He stepped forward and pulled his brother into his arms, fiercely, and placed a hand on the back of his head.

Everything that he had known up until that point was shattered like so much glass, it crunched under his boots, and he ground them into the floor viciously. So much anger and hatred boiled within him at the realization that he had never truly lost everything. He recalled the moment his son had passed on, how he had been driven mad and slaughtered thousands in his wake, how he had looked at the world so differently. It was just a flat grey plain of useless existence. There was no such thing as justice, righteousness, or truth. The man he was had shattered and suddenly, the people around him turned into nothing but amusing blood bags, and the monsters in the world were a cure for boredom, and he did not care. But little Radu had still walked the Earth, still lived in a way, and he had heard the tales of the beast his brother had become.

He felt hollow and broken in a way he had not known since the day Abraham Van Hellsing had defeated him, staked his heart, and brought him back to England for years of torture and experiments. Since his dominion had fallen and burned at the hands of his enemies and all that he had worked to create was turned to ash in front of him. He had watched his people fall, watched as his castle crumbled, and the sky turned grey and suffocating.

He felt human.

Emotions that he did not recognize battled for dominance within his mind and he could do nothing to fight it but tighten his hold and the trembling figure that was his little brother.

Yes, he wept. He wept for the years he spent in unnecessary darkness. He wept for the years his brother must have suffered without him. And he wept for their lives past. He would never see that innocent toothy smile again, the one he was rewarded with the day he took his brother swimming, but he at least now had someone who shared the same memories as him.

 _"Do you think we'll ever see the ocean? I always wanted to see it."_

 _"Of course we will. When we're old enough we'll ride out to the coast and camp out on the ocean side for a week. We won't tell anyone where we're going that way no one will come looking for us!"_

 _"Father would worry."_

 _"Psh, no he wouldn't. We'd be so big and strong that no one would think to bother us."_

 _"You think so?"_

 _"Of course!"_

 _"Hey, I saw that! You just cheated!"_

 _"No I didn't! Marcellus was watching the whole time!"_

 _"Liar!"_

Tears spilled down his cheeks but the thought of Integra and Andrews watching did not cross his mind, all he cared about was the arms that returned his embrace and the wetness he felt spreading across his shirt collar.

"I told you I would get a hug out of you."

The voice was thick with emotion but the utter ridiculousness of the words caught him off guard forcing him to pull away to look at the satisfied smirk plastered across his brother's face. He had wiped away the tears from his face but he still seemed so emotionally exhausted. Still, the words registered and he grinned, mirth, for once not born of carnage and bloodlust, bubbled up within him and he laughed.

"So you did," he responded.

The sound of a throat clearing drew both of their attention to the woman sitting behind the desk. She had once again steepled her fingers, but even that could not hide the smile she wore, and was watching them intently.

"I am glad that you two have found each other," she began sincerely, but she took on a darker tone as she continued, "But we have serious matters to see to I am afraid, and further reconcile will have to wait."

"My master," Alucard said with a more wolfish grin, "your professionalism is admirable as always." He bowed to her and remained standing as Radu claimed a seat in the chair next to him. The younger of the two seemed to be in a daze and his gaze seldom wavered from his brother despite the importance of the following discussion.

Integra drew from her cigar and lifted the letter of invitation, reading through it once more, and said: "If this vampire wants to play games then let us have a little fun of our own."

"Are you suggesting we play along?" Alucard drawled.

"Of course," Integra answered with a smirk of her own. "Seras is well on her way to recovery now. While I attend the ball at the Lightner Museum she will attend the one being held by Flagler himself. She will be escorted by Radu and act as our own spy."

"But it's a trap, obviously," Radu spoke up, turning his eyes to Integra quizzically. These kinds of tactics had never been his forte, he had always drifted more towards honesty and sincerity, even as a vampire.

"True," Integra agreed with a nod. "But you will not be going without aid. Alucard will follow in disguise."

"Will I be making an appearance?" said vampire asked bemusedly.

"If it is deemed necessary," Integra answered. She glanced back down at the crumpled paper in her hand absently while her mind raced.

Alucard chuckled and sat down on the couch once more, propping his head up with a hand and resting his elbow on the arm of the couch, he gazed at his master with rapt attention. Thoughts of his brother's return were set aside for later discussion while the promise of excitement was in front of him.

"Depending on the results of tomorrow night I believe this problem will be solved and we can return home with no trouble. If you are able to successfully destroy this character than the little court he has been building will disband and scatter like the cowards they are and we can deal with them later." She lifted the invitation in her hand and held her lit cigar up to it, watching as the paper caught fire and crumbled to ash in her hand.

Andrews smirked from beside her, enjoying the slight show of dramatics, and stepped back as Integra pushed herself out of the chair. She ground out her cigar in the ash tray and sighed.

"Tomorrow then," she stated and turned for her bedroom.

"Retiring already?" Alucard called from his seat, "My, you have grown old."

Integra turned back wearing a smirk, "You should be jealous, my servant, it is a luxury you'll never know." She turned away, brushing her hair behind her shoulders, and shut the door behind her.

Alucard laughed and turned his gaze onto the butler, "You as well, I presume."

Andrews bowed with a smile, "If I can be of no more service."

"Of course," Alucard responded in kind.

Andrews nodded once and turned away to retire to his own room and prepare for the coming day.

When the two humans had gone about their nightly routine and settled themselves within their perspective beds the two brothers remained where they sat. There was a long lapse of time in which they were silent, reveling in each other's presence yet not looking at each other, reminiscing on their own memories and the days to come. It was foolish to have such a thing as hope for the future with their species but the two were feeling more human than they had in centuries and dared not deny each other the possibilities.

"You have yet to reveal to me the identity of the whore," Alucard observed an hour later. He had yet to make eye contact with the younger and was instead gazing out of the window while Seras slept at his side. At some point the orange lens glasses had found their way back onto the bridge of his nose and his hat shadowed his face, creating a mysterious image for Radu to ponder.

"Well," Radu said, a heavy sigh worked its way up from his lungs and he leaned back in his chair. "I fell in love." Alucard sneered causing Radu to chuckle, "I know it seems idiotic. But I fell in love with a beautiful woman named Elaine. I was set on courting her but her father was against it. . ." he trailed off in memory a sad smile gracing his lips before he continued. "She went missing one day and I set out to search for her. There was an abandoned castle nearby where I had chosen to settle and it was there that I found her body, drained of blood, rotted, and thrown into the dried mote."

Alucard remained silent while Radu revealed his past. He was as still as a statue.

"The monster that had killed her was a vampire by the name of Elizabeth Bathory."

And like that the calm image Alucard had portrayed shattered and a sneer pulled his lips back, exposing his fangs, and he clenched the arm of the couch in rage.

"I went to get revenge and the rest is history," Radu finished simply. He stared at his hands absently, examining the pale flesh in thought, and flexed his fingers while he waited for his brother to respond.

"Does she still torture this world with her presence?" he asked darkly. It had been thirty years since he had last been aware of the happenings of the Earth and one would hope someone had been able to finally destroy her in his absence.

Radu was quiet, wary, before he answered. "Unfortunately." He rubbed at his neck thoughtlessly and struggled to contain the shiver that threatened to overtake him.

"You've yet to free yourself," he observed.

Radu dropped his gaze to the floor, knowing that it was not a question but a fact. Silence fell between them once more and Alucard had yet to look at him. Mortification swelled within him at the thought of his brother's disappointment in him. He should have been able to free himself from her long ago, he was of the same blood as the No-Life King, it should have been child's play to him. He sat forward and rubbed at his face in frustration and embarrassment.

Alucard remained in a state of quiet contemplation, he gazed down at his gloved hands, analyzing the symbol that bound him to the Hellsing line despite it already having been engraved in his brain.

"Master?"

His eyes turned to take in the figure next to him, her eyes had opened a fraction and she was looking at him in concerned confusion. She was slowly regaining her strength but it would be a couple more hours before she would be back to normal, for now she was still a bit dazed. He grinned down at her from the corner of his eye.

"Police Girl," he greeted.

"When did you get back?" she asked through a yawn.

"This morning," he answered simply.

"Oh," she mumbled then added, "Welcome back."

He nodded once, grin still present, and turned to look at his brother, exposing his neck and the still healing puncture wounds left by her. Her eyes lingered on the marks, recalling what had happened, and dropped her eyes to his hands in sadness before catching sight of the man sitting in the chair across from her.

"Radu!" she exclaimed quietly. "I went looking for you, you never showed up . . ." she trailed off thoughtfully.

Radu grinned, "You went looking for me? You shouldn't have." He leaned forward in his seat, excited that she was conscious and regaining her health. He couldn't help the cheeky comment that slipped out in his happiness.

She laughed, "I'm glad you're okay. We feared the worst." She shifted, struggling to sit up while still cocooned within the blanket Alucard had wrapped her in before bringing her out into the sitting room. Odd, as she had fallen asleep in her room, but she assumed he had wanted her to be present for their planning.

Alucard's eyes flitted between the two and his grin slid into a smile before he lifted a hand and pulled her to his side.

"Master, we found Radu," she stated rather redundantly, but she was so pleased to see them together. Their similarities were remarkable now that they were compared side by side but while Alucard was tall, broad shouldered, and intimidating Radu was smaller and had an air of playfulness.

"I was rather lost," Radu agreed with a chuckle.

Seras returned to sleep shortly after and Radu and Alucard returned to their thoughts. At some point the younger had stood with a sigh.

"Leaving?" Alucard said, his eyes following his brother's movements.

"I must return to the college lest they suspect something," Radu admitted. He pulled his coat back on and secured the buttons while he spoke. "I will return tomorrow. We have a job to do after all," he assured with a laugh.

Alucard grinned and waved his hand in the air, sweeping the subject aside like dust in the air, "It will be taken care of easily, don't worry."

"Yes, well, until then," Radu bade his farewell and bowed out, stepping through the shadows as was his norm. Though he was returning to an evil place the thought of his brother kept him in high spirits.


	9. Do you like my dress?

A/N~ I am so sorry for the long delay. I lost inspiration for a little while, a pity since I had already written 120,000 words at the time. But I am currently reviewing everything and working on getting what I have posted.

The hotel room had not been as peaceful as it was the night since the first day of their arrival. Integra slept soundly, pleased with the return of her servant and (dare she say it) loyal companion. Seras was a remarkable person and a powerful vampire but she had only had to deal with the freak trash leftover from The Major's game and had never tested her abilities against one of the true undead. She had worried for her in the beginning of their trip, once they had caught the gist of what was to happen she had feared the Draculina would not be able to pull through – though she knew she would give it her all – and fretted over their options. Calling the Vatican would have been her last resort, a sign that she was willing to let go of her pride in order to do what needed to be done, but Alucard had returned just as her hand was inching towards the phone. She would be lying if she claimed it was not a huge relief on her part.

So her dreams were relatively stress free but instead featured some of her best memories. Familiar faces made a reappearance: her father, Walter, Sir Pendragon even, all the while she heard Seras's voice "I told you my master would return!" echoing in the back of her mind.

Everything was going to be just fine.

When Andrews woke early that morning he took a good while to prepare himself for the day. It would be his first time working with the monster of Hellsing and the realization left him in a strange mood. The thought that he might not survive this battle, despite Integra's confidence, left him feeling melancholy in the silliest of ways.

His room was quiet, the dark burgundy carpet and drawn curtains seemed to absorb whatever sound may have filtered into the room. He pushed himself out of bed and pulled the curtains aside, throwing the morning light across the room and illuminating the particles of dust that danced about in his wake. The sunlight seemed to darken his mood a bit but he decided to take a shower before preparing the morning tea.

When he stepped out of his room he paused upon sighting the two vampires lounging on the couch. They were both asleep to the best of his knowledge. Alucard had propped his head up with a hand and his other arm was thrown over Seras's shoulders, whose head was resting on his. The image would forever be ingrained in his memories as the first time he had ever seen Seras truly happy. She was a bright person by nature but the woman he had known also tended to be very nostalgic and saddened at times. She did her best to inspire happiness in others while she ached for lost companions. But now she slept against her closest companion of all and even her dreams she was smiling.

He did not know Alucard. There was no memory who could base his observations off of but he could guess that, by the way his face was relaxed and bare of any wrinkles (caused by his leering grin or snarling rage), that he too was content.

Sunlight streamed across them from the window and he glided over to pull the drapes shut. While the sight was pleasant he was sure that it caused them some form of discomfort and would no doubt wake them eventually.

Rather than disturb them with the racket he was sure to make if he went about preparing tea, he left the room and traveled down stairs to retrieve the morning paper and pick up a pastry or two from the café for Integra.

The lobby was filled with a few early rises when he stepped off the last stair and he noted the general buzz of excitement for the day. He only just then remembered that they had missed out on several reenactments and events that Seras had originally been excited about. He sighed as he walked, wishing that it was not so, if it weren't for the vampires infesting the city they would have been able to enjoy themselves for a change. Perhaps Seras would be able to enjoy herself at the ball despite the species of her fellow partygoers. He highly doubted it.

He returned not twenty minutes later and took a tray of the pastries into Integra's room and roused her from her sleep.

"Andrews?" she muttered, rubbing at her eyes and patting down her platinum hair. She sat up in bed and gave him a puzzled look. "Breakfast in bed?" she questioned tiredly.

"Unfortunately the living room is being occupied by the dead," he explained with a chuckle. He set the tray on her lap and went about opening the curtains and lighting the room.

"What does that have to do with me eating in said living room?" she asked through a mouthful of fruit filled pastry. She took a sip of the purchased coffee to wash it down. It was just hot enough to be pleasant and wakeful.

"Well," Andrews paused in the middle of pulling out clothing for the day, "Well, I think they're sleeping."

Integra stared out him thoughtfully and frowned, "Those idiots. There is a perfectly fine bed in her room." She groused and muttered while she ate but she could not deny that breakfast in bed was rather pleasant. She had never been treated as such.

Andrews had set out a grey pair of slacks and white blouse, perfect for the sunny day, though he would have preferred black as was his habit but he tried not to inflict his fashion sense onto others as best he could. It was bound to be a hot day anyways what with the lack of cloud cover.

"I am sure Alucard and Radu spent the night reconnecting and he simply found himself too comfortable to move," he theorized while he stood at the bedside with his hands behind his back.

"I doubt it," she said. "He probably did it knowing it would hinder you. He enjoys making others uncomfortable." She finished the pastries and sipped at the coffee before setting it on the bedside table and pushing the covers back.

"Yes, I had noticed, though he is beginning to grow on me. I do love his flair for theatrics," Andrews admitted as he reclaimed the tray and moved out of her way.

Integra laughed and stood, "Don't tell him that, he has a big enough ego."

Andrews left her room with the tray of dishes and set them on the counter of the kitchenette with a sigh. While Integra showered and dressed he would need to make a few calls. They had to prepare for the upcoming event, and though he was sure Integra would be fine going dressed in a suit, he was determined to do it properly. Seras as well, though she would be easier, she had been excited for a ball before they had even left England. While he and Integra would be joining the Pope at the Lightner Museum the vampires would be arriving at Flagler College. Amusing to say the least as the two buildings were situated directly across from each other with nothing but a small two lane street to separate them. Regardless, he would see to it that both ladies were elegant and well versed in the ways of the elite.

When Integra had stepped out of her room she paused, just as Andrews had, to take in the sight before her. She smirked and quietly shut her door, moving passed the couch, and headed for the desk to claim her cigar box from the drawer.

"Master," Alucard's voice startled the two humans, though it was quieter than his usual volume.

"Yes?" Integra asked, returning to her task, not at all bothered by his wakefulness. She glanced over to him, finding that his eyes were still closed, and struggled not to smile.

"Bring me back some wine," he said.

She snorted but responded with, "Of course, servant." She could see the smirk on his face and it both irritated her and pleased her to see him in a good mood. She would scour the wine festival going on the morning for his favorite as a small thanks, for what, she did not know.

The two left the hotel room to shop about for a proper dress and accessories and Integra would insist on visiting the wine festival.

When they were finally gone Alucard took an unnecessary breath to take in the morning air. As strange as it was he had always loved the morning, perhaps it had something to do with the way the sun painted the sky in reds, then oranges, before it turned that irritating shade of blue. Still, there had been a point in his life when the clear sky had pleased him, though it was centuries ago. Or maybe it was just the assurance of the one constant in his existence: the sun would rise, set, and night would fall . . . And then light would come again. He had lost far too much, watched his life slip between his fingers like so much sand, and the constant flow of change was only ever marked by the sun and moon.

He had unknowingly tensed while he spoke with Integra and the action made him aware of the fact. He leaned his head back against the couch and reclaimed the darkness of unconsciousness, true sleep for the first time in thirty years, vacant of any need to fight or struggle in an effort to return to reality. It was magnificent.

Now if Seras would stop snoring all would be perfect.

Integra and Andrews returned later in the day. The sun was still high in the sky and Andrews had been loath to disturb the two vampires with their presence but Integra had claimed that seven hours was more than enough sleep for Alucard and Seras had been sleeping for nearly two days straight. They had climbed the hotel stairs, Andrews laden down with shopping bags, and Integra leading the way.

Integra pushed the door open and paused, taking in the scene before her for the second time that day: Seras sat on the floor with that monstrosity of a house cat she had seen just two nights ago. The thing looked rather familiar now that she thought about it. She made a mental note to speak with Seras on picking less noticeable meals, the park had published an article in the news about the 'missing' jaguar.

Alucard was nowhere to be found but she doubted he wasn't far.

The two humans entered the room, Andrews set the bags of purchased items down, and Integra moved over to the desk as was her habit.

"How did it go?" Seras asked as she pet the head of the jaguar. The big cat purred lazily, ignorant of the new arrivals, and let out a content yawn that displayed his set of teeth nicely. Funnily enough the two humans did not find those fangs threatening in the least. There were used to quite a more deadly set.

"Well enough," Integra grunted.

"It was quite successful, actually," Andrews added. He searched through the plastic bags while he spoke. "I managed to find a dress that was both elegant and to Sir Integra's liking, and I happened to spot a pair of earrings that I think will go nicely with the dress you picked out before we left." He pulled out a small box and padded across the carpet to offer it to Seras. Aranu growled at his approach but Andrews simply smile and patted the cat on his head, "He is really a remarkable creature."

Seras took the box offered and grinned at the indirect compliment, "Thank you Andrews, I felt a connection with him and decided that I couldn't leave him to wither away . . ." She trailed off as she opened the box, finding a pair of intricate black metal earrings, obviously hand crafted, with several red gems set into the wirework.

"It's a cat," Alucard's voice floated to them from Seras's room where Integra presumed he had retired to sleep after Seras had woken.

Seras, distracted from her gift, corrected over her shoulder, "He is a jaguar not a cat"

"It purrs, it kills for fun, and it hacks up hair balls. It's a cat," his voice could be heard to say. His tone was dry and amused in a way only he could manage and it both infuriated Seras and made her happy. She was just glad to have him back.

"Master, just because you like dogs doesn't mean I have to, quit being so rude," Seras called back. She returned to facing Andrews and smiled up at him, "These are lovely Andrews, I do appreciate it. They'll go perfectly with my dress."

"Will you forever refer to me as master?" Alucard's voice suddenly sounded much closer and the three turned to find him standing in the doorway of the bedroom wearing a teasing grin.

Seras scowled and turned away, "My apologies, Alucard, it will not happen again." If he was so intent on separating himself from her then she would not stand in his way. She dropped her gaze down to Aranu who had rested his head in her lap sleepily and rubbed at one of his ears absently. She ignored the way his name felt awkward and heavy on her tongue and let out a snort.

"When did this happen?" Integra exclaimed. Honestly, she could not handle any more surprises on this trip, if it wasn't long lost relatives returning from the dead, Seras's health, or a megalomaniac vampire lord, then it was something else.

"Last night, she was rather passionate about it," Alucard responded with a leer. He stood behind Seras and loomed over her in such a way that she was forced to lean forward from her position on the floor in an effort to escape his shadow.

"Don't make it sound so lurid," she grouched.

"You should have told me sooner," Integra growled, rubbing at her forehead. "Seras is a special case, I allowed her to work with the organization because she was under your control, Alucard, now what am I to do?" She threw her hands in the air and leaned back in the chair to take in the sight of the two together.

Alucard's face remained blank for several seconds but he quickly lowered it to eye the woman over the rims of his glasses intensely. Just like that the previously light and amused mood that had overtaken the room was dissipated and swallowed up by his threatening presence. Integra glowered at him in warning.

"Do not threaten me, Vampire," she snapped. A cigar had found its way to her mouth and she was now gnawing at the end of it in anger. There had been many a time that they had butted heads over such situations and Integra always came out on top, however, there were a handful occasions in which Alucard's words had won her over. Rare though they were. Integra chose not to recall them often.

"You will not bind her," Alucard growled.

Seras glanced between the two and spoke up calmly, "I wouldn't mind Integra, you know I'd do whatever it takes." She had never in her life thought of deserting Hellsing or going off to forge her own path. She owed her continued existence to Alucard and Integra and she would not abandoned them for selfish reason. It saddened her the Integra felt the need to bind her to ensure her further services, and that she remained under control, but it would not sway her opinion of the woman that she had grown to love like an older sister.

The two seemed to ignore her assurances and Alucard clenched his fists in anger, "You seem to have forgotten the century of torture I endured, I will not have her become some science project for the next generation after you are gone."

"How dare you," she ground out through grit teeth, the cigar had been all but bitten in half. She did not comment on the fact that she had no heir to carry on the Hellsing name, and thus free Seras and Alucard at her death.

Seras pushed herself to her feet, sending Aranu rolling across the floor, and stood between the two's line of sight with her feet spread and hands on her hips. "My fate is my own," she declared in a tone of voice reserved for her men. The two stared at her, one shocked and the other irritated, while she spoke. "Sir Hellsing. My position within the organization will not be effected by this altercation. If you feel it is necessary to assure my continued compliance then I will willfully submit to the binding, though it hurts me to see that you have such little trust in me after all that we have been through," her tone softened as she continued. "Even if I did turn on Hellsing, Master would stop me."

Alucard watched Integra's face morph into one of regret and he smirked. The woman seemed to genuinely care for Seras, something he was sure developed in his absence, and it clearly showed in the way she scowled and looked away. While binding the draculina to the bloodline would ensure her cooperation for the rest of the existence of Hellsing it would also be a betrayal of the vampires trust and loyalty but if she were to allow her to remain free the possibility of her one day revolting could only be handled by him. Something he would be loath to do but if ordered he would have no choice.

"She is not like me," he reminded her, "She is not a monster set on bending others to her will. She has not led countless men to slaughter as I have."

"It doesn't matter," Integra groused with a sigh. "You both would be freed once I'm dead."

Seras frowned but made no comment, instead choosing to drop her eyes to the carpet floor beneath her feet. Alucard was silent.

"Now, Andrews and I decided it would be best to have dinner before we part ways," Integra shifted the conversation to something lighter.

"Pete's Alley?" Seras mumbled hopefully.

Integra smiled down at her, "Of course. We reserved one of the private rooms while we were out so Alucard can join us and still remain under cover."

Alucard scowled and moved back towards the bedroom, "I will not go to a restaurant and sit and watch you two eat while we twiddle our thumbs."

"Oh, but Master, it's different," Seras stated, she had turned on the floor to see him. "They serve people 'from all walks of life'," she quoted, even going as far as to use air quotations and a deep voice to mimic their previous waiter.

"Oh?" he turned back to her curiously.

Getting ready for an event, especially one such as a ball, was an interesting experience when it came to the Hellsing Organization. Integra was irritable and disgusted with the gown she was forced into by Andrews and the butler did his best to assist in her preparations. He had spent many a night watching his nieces and had become an expert with hair, makeup he avoided, but by the time Integra had called for enough her tresses were piled atop her head in a fashionable and pleasant up-do that had Seras looking rather jealous. She tugged at her short hair sadly and returned to her room to pull on her own gown. While Seras was moping over the unfairness of Integra's hidden elegance, Integra was arguing on the benefits of wearing a bra under the low cut dress, Radu stepping in to the madness to immediately be approached by a frustrated Andrews, Alucard sat on the couch wearing a pleasant grin and listening to the madness.

"Must you come now?" Andrews exclaimed from across the room while he struggled with an armload of coats for the two women to choose from. "I don't suppose you need help getting ready as well?"

Radu lifted his hands in apologetic surrender and joined his brother on the couch with his own pleasant smile. He was already dressed in a tailcoat and a rather old fashioned top hat while his brother had yet to change.

"Andrews!" Seras called from her room, peeking around the door helplessly, "How do you get this thing on?"

Andrews sighed and dropped the coats onto a chair and hurried to her door.

"Is it normally this hectic before a party?" Radu asked with a laugh.

Alucard chuckled, "Hellsing does not attend parties," he said simply.

Integra stepped out of her own room wearing an off white gown. It was simple in design and fell from her shoulders gracefully, the back was low cut, and the trailing strands of gossamer white fabric accentuated her bare back and olive skin. She had put on a light layer of makeup on her own to cover any uneven skin tone and brighten up her eyes but as far as she was concerned it was far too much. She stood with her eyes closed, struggling to contain and irritation, and let out a sigh.

"You look lovely, my master," Alucard complimented, though it was equal parts teasing.

"Thank you, servant," she acknowledged grudgingly and remained standing while they waited on Seras and Andrews. "She's been going on and on about the ball since the day we got the invitation," she said after a moment of silence.

"That doesn't surprise me," Alucard said with a snort.

"She seems the fairytale type," Radu admitted with a chuckle.

"You have no idea," Integra grumbled.

Andrews stepped out of her room with a sigh but quickly straightened and smiled, "May I present to you the Lady Victoria."

"That's not funny Andrews," Seras muttered.

She stepped out of the door, fidgeting under the gaze of the three other occupants of the room, and adjusted the collar of the gown that fell to the floor. It was solid back up until it reached the top of her breasts and broke into a lace collar. Her arms were bare and it was only then that she was truly grateful that she had been able to recreate her once missing limb. Andrews had managed to braid her short hair into a small wrap around up-do to please her and she felt more sophisticated than she ever had in her life.

The two women posed quite the contrasting image: Integra in her flowing white gown and Seras in her black. Seras chuckled nervously at the thought and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Shall we go?" Integra prompted.

The brothers stood from the couch while Integra shoved her cigar case into the small clutch she carried.

"Sir," Andrews offered his arm to Integra who took it without a thought and the two led the way.

"Alucard," Integra called over her shoulder, "Aren't you going to change?"

Alucard had yet to move from where he stood but a cloak of shadows enveloped him before pulling away to reveal his black suit, red shirt, and black tie combination. He smirked at Integra who rolled her eyes and followed Andrews out the door.

"May I?" Radu asked from where he stood next to Seras, his arm extended.

"Of course good sir," Seras joked and took his arm obligingly. "It is a fine evening for a ball, don't you think?"

"Oh, I agree madam, perfect for lovely ladies such as yourself," he responded in kind.

Seras snorted as they followed the other two out the door, "if I am a lady then you're the queen of England."

"What I do in my spare time is none of your business," he shot back with a smirk.

Alucard trailed behind them with his hands in his pockets, the usual grin no longer present as there was no excitement currently taking place, and allowed his eyes to wonder from behind orange lenses as they passed through the hotel lobby. Several other guests were dressed to impress and lounging about the grand concourse, some were on their way out to dinner like them, while others were waiting on others to join them. They were all human, he noted, but he could sense the hundreds of vampiric auras inhabiting the city, pressing against his mind, and forcing him to dampen his own lest he be easily discovered.

They stepped out into the night, whatever humidity would have been present in the air was blown away by the cool sea breeze, and headed towards the main street of the old town accordingly. Heels clacked against cobblestone, drawing Alucard's eyes to the draculina in front of him. When he had first come across her, bringing her into the world of the night, she had been rather clumsy and accident prone but that had obviously changed. She wore heels tall enough to make her level with his brother who, though shorter than him, was not lacking in height by any means. He eyed the back of her gown thoughtfully, deciding that it was far too boring for the kind of party they would be attending.

Shadows rose up from the ground, crawling across the cobblestone from his feet, and rose up to meet Seras's form. Feeling the cool darkness against her skin she turned back to scowl at him irritably but when the shadows pulled away her dress had gained a sparkling quality to it and had grown a fairytale worthy train that dragged across the ground as she walked. She blinked, glancing down at the trailing fabric behind her and smiled. She did not voice her thanks but she lifted her eyes to his and flashed him a joyful grin.

He simply cocked his head to the side and continued to follow behind.

Radu watched the two from the corner of his eye and smirked.

They arrived at the Pete's Alley just on time. They were thankful that Andrews had thought to make a reservation as the restaurant was packed beyond belief and a waitlist had started nearly two hours ago. As per usual, the guest were all well dressed, even more so due to the grand parties to take place, and servers rushed about to accommodate the growing crowd to the best of their abilities.

Their little crowd piled up in front of the host stand with Integra and Andrews in front and Alucard standing in the back looking rather apathetic to the flustered staff and high class guests. But he did notice the surprising amount of vampires scattered about the establishment, seated with their own kind, and drinking thick red wine and eating tomato soup. He quirked a brow while Andrews spoke to the hostess and gave them their name.

Seras was practically beaming as the hostess led them to their private room. French doors stood open, allowing them into the small and dim lit room, a large round table took up the center and was covered by a white tablecloth and decorated with a vase of wildflowers. Even in that room the walls were painted maroon and accented with dark wood.

While the hostess set out their menus Andrews pulled out a chair each for the ladies of the group and the two sat together. Andrews sat on the other side of Integra, Radu claimed the seat across from Seras, and Alucard, having waited for them all to seat themselves, sat next to his former fledgling.

"Would you like the doors opened or closed?" the red headed hostess asked.

"Closed, please," Integra answered while she picked up a menu.

The doors swung shut, muffling the chatter from outside, and the five sat in silence.

Seras eyed the single empty chair left thoughtfully. They group felt a little lopsided because of it. Rather than voice this thought however she simply called forth a friendly face in her mind and her own shadows crawled forth from beneath her and formed into a familiar figure.

"Glad I was invited," Pip muttered dryly.

The occupants of the table turned to take in the Frenchman, wearing his white suit, and watched as he claimed the last seat. He leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs, sending an irritated glance to Radu.

Seras smiled, "We needed one more person," she explained with a shrug.

"It's been a while Frenchman," Alucard greeted with a grin.

Pip smirked, "You as well my dark prince," he cooed.

Alucard laughed outright, causing Integra to sigh and Radu to scratch at his cheek nervously. The atmosphere, though not unpleasant, was a bit tense due to the new addition, but Seras reveled in it. She enjoyed surrounding herself with as many familiar faces as possible. The only one missing was Walter himself but she refused to allow herself to go down that path again and shook her head.

They withheld from saying anymore as their server came in and shut the door behind him.

"Peter," Seras greeted in surprise. It was the same server they had had last time. He looked a little stressed but at the sight of Seras, Integra, and Andrews he let out a small sigh and smiled.

"Welcome back!" he said with a chuckle. "I had a feeling you would show up again."

"Of course," Seras agreed.

"Will you be dinning with us tonight this time?" he asked.

"Yes, please," Seras agreed with a chuckle.

"That makes this easy on me," he responded with another laugh. He moved over to the table with a hand on his chin in thought. "I only have to take three orders tonight then," he guessed with a smile.

"Is it that obvious?" Seras questioned curiously.

"It's a talent," he responded with a shrug. He turned to the three supposed humans of the table expectantly, "Do you know what you would like to drink?"

"I'll have a gin martini," Integra declared.

"Of course," Peter remarked.

"Just a water for me," Andrews added politely.

Peter nodded and turned to look at Pip, "And you?"

"Do you have Stella?" Pip asked curiously, excited by the thought of having an actual drink for the first time in thirty years. Now that Seras was a full-fledged vampire his body was much more corporeal and the thought of hunger and thirst became something of a necessity while he existed outside of her.

"We do!" Peter exclaimed happily. "I'll be back with those for you." And just like that he was gone, leaving them to once again sit and stew in the awkward but pleasant atmosphere. What a strange combination but no one seemed to be too bothered by it. The humans and familiar were engrossed in the menu and the three vampires were content to sit in the quiet while they thought.

"I am sure this is completely unnecessary," Integra spoke up after having set her menu down and taking in the rest of the table, "But are we all aware of the plan tonight?"

"Of course," Alucard drawled, he had lent back in his chair and crossed his legs as was his usual and rested a hand on the back of Seras' chair.

"You are the one I'm worried about the most," Integra stated dryly.

"You wound me," he said.

"I know Seras will play her part well, as will Radu I'm sure, it's you that I'm afraid will ruin things," she added. She had pushed the menu aside and clasped her hands on the table in front of her. The commanding image she usually wore was a bit ruined by her elegant wardrobe but it made her all the more demanding. "You are to only act if they are in danger. This is strictly reconnaissance until Flagler reveals his true plans, you must not attack before our men arrive and the area is evacuated, stall until then."

"Yes, my master," he nodded once. When Alucard had returned home, the Hellsing med had immediately jumped into action and followed the vampire to America, albeit at a much slower pace. They had gotten in contact with Integra just as they were flying over seas and she was grudgingly combing through isles of ballgowns.

"And Seras," Integra turned her gaze onto the vampire next to her, "I understand that you are excited for the ball but remember that this is a mission. Please refrain from any . . ." she trailed off, watching as the draculina scrunched her brows together in confusion before finishing, "Childish behavior."

Seras dropped her gaze to her hands in her lap, slightly miffed, and muttered, "I'm not childish."

"Of course you are," Alucard remarked.

"At least I never had an imaginary friend," she muttered.

Alucard paused, a slight note of confusion written between his brows, before he leveled a look on his brother who was currently twiddling his thumbs. He reached up and pulled the glasses from his face, folded them shut, and slid them into the breast pocket of his suit. "Is nothing sacred anymore?" he asked, a hint of irritation coloring his voice.

Pip burst into a fit of laughter just as Peter returned with their drinks. Along with the ordered beverages he also carried three glasses of blood, disguised as dark wine, and set them in front of the vampires first. When he had delivered the ordered drinks to the last of the guests he stood back with the tray held against his chest.

"Have you all decided?" he asked. His blond hair was a bit disheveled and a sheen of sweat covered his face due to the busy crowd outside of their room but he still managed to grace them with a smile.

While the humans ordered the brothers eyed each other and Seras chuckled. The image of her former master flustered by the revelation that she knew about his imaginary friend from his past life was too much to pass up. She would admit that the comment had slipped out without thought but the resulting reaction was worth it. Across from her Radu shot her a betrayed look which caused her to laugh all the more.

Pip leaned forward in his chair while Andrews placed his order and said, "So what was his name?" He wore such a shit eating grin that Alucard could not simply ignore it.

"His name was Raphael, he was a demon hound sent from hell to guide me in my conquest over the eastern hemisphere. He told me of the darkness and turned me only after I had slaughtered thousands and claimed my throne." He leered at the familiar as he spoke and when a rather disgusted look had come over his face he laughed.

"You were sick even as a child," Pip groused.

"No he wasn't," Radu shot down Pip's idea with a wave of his hand and a sigh.

"His name was Marcellus the Mouse," Seras provided with a smirk before taking a sip of her drink. While it was mostly blood she was pleased to note that there was a bit of wine mixed in.

Alucard scowled down at her and took a sip of his own drink irritably while the Frenchman laughed. He slapped the table and shared an amused glance with Radu before calming down enough to place his own order. But the thought of Alucard having an imaginary friend that was a mouse of all things would continue to amuse him for the rest of eternity.

The audacity of the situation was lost on all at the table but if one were to step back and examine the situation one would find it odd that, just before a serious mission, they were talking merrily over a shared meal with no worry for the upcoming confrontation. As strange as it was this was all due to the presence of Alucard and their own military forces not but a few miles away. With no need to worry about the lack of communications, and their most powerful weapon in their midst, dealing with a power hungry vampire seemed simple. Nothing like the attack on London which had been planned and brought about over a fifty year time span in which the enemy had studied and prepared against Hellsing. The king had returned and would need to discipline his subjects after his absence, that was all.

So the reviewed the plan one more time, assured themselves that all knew what their part to play was, before tucking into their meals. Really, it was child's play.

When they were all sufficiently filled and Peter had returned with the bill and bid them a goodnight, they had left as a group, filing down the long thin hallway, and paused out front of the restaurant to bid their farewells. They all wore varying forms of expressions: Seras looked determined, Radu had an easy going smile, while his brother grinned wolfishly in excitement. Pip had remained in the physical world up until they had walked through the hallway when they were relatively alone and deemed it safe to return without causing a scene.

Integra looked at her watch, noting the hour (Nine O'clock) and leveled the three vampires with a stern gaze. "If anything goes wrong, meet back at the hotel by two. If Flagler, for whatever reason has not made his move by then, we will regroup and gather information."

And like that the real night began. They group split, Integra and Andrews following the main street down, and the three vampires turned down an alley to utilize the shadows. It would not due to arrive by foot when other vampires would, without a doubt, be showing up in as dramatic a way as possible. While several had taken up roost within St. Augustine they were certain several more had yet to arrive.


	10. Vampire Hangover from Hell

When the exited the darkness, Radu leading the way, it was not three monsters of the night that exited but two vampires and a rather large black wolf. Red eyes glowed in the night as it trailed behind them. It would not do for Alucard to make his presence known amongst them and ruin Integra's fun after all. He was to go disguised as Seras's familiar and to make it seem as inconspicuous as possible Radu had summoned his own familiar. A red fox trotted at his feet.

"This should be an interesting night," Radu voiced as they arrived within the courtyard of the property. Across the street they could see humans making their way into the lightner museum, talking and laughing like all was good and well in the world, ignorant of the horde of monsters gathering in the building next to them.

"What about all the students?" Sera asked curiously as they climbed the steps.

"They're mesmerized," Radu explained quietly. "They're all asleep in their beds and will not wake until tomorrow." They entered the foyer and paused to take in the sight before them.

A grand chandelier hung from the center of the domed ceiling which was decorated with murals of angels, mermaids, and demons. Like all the other old buildings in the city this one too was designed in the old Victorian sense of architecture with grand sweeping staircases and dark wood. The tiled floor was intricate and dizzying, even more so when the forms of richly dressed vampires, magnificent in their beauty, spun about it. Creatures roamed between their masters: cats, dogs, lizards, monster of myth and lore, and even demons could be spotted. Performers dressed in grand costumes were posted at random intervals, guiding patrons deeper into the building towards the dining hall where more space had been created to accommodate them. Music spilled from between the twin set of stairs where a small band had set up, violins squealed and a piano set the tempo for the dance.

"I have no doubt that some will not make it through the night," Radu added grimly.

Seras scowled but quickly wiped the expression from her face as more vampires poured in from behind them, moving around the pair as they did, and sent them curious looks. She was amazed by their clothing and now understood why Alucard had taken to adding a bit more flare to her own dress. Some vampiresses were wearing full on Victorian gowns, others wore dresses that were so exotic and strange they were borderline costumes, but looked anything but simple. Despite the variation in style, however, none of their gowns displayed bright colors. She saw plenty of black, deep reds, and whites but other than that there was nothing besides the odd glimmer of gold or silver jewelry.

At her side the wolf snorted and stepped forward causing the two to follow.

"Try not to speak with anyone," Radu warned as the entered the fray. "The majority of these people or conniving, backstabbing, and petty and will make any attempt to embarrass you or even blackmail you."

Seras nodded, taking his offered arm, and allowed him to lead her around the dancing dead and up one of the flight of stairs. There was a low murmur of chatter, occasionally punctured by laughter, but the music drowned out any specific words.

In that moment Seras felt strange, not in a worrisome way, but in the way one feels when they experience deja vu or a paradigm shift. She was suddenly bombarded by memories of her past life and how far she had come and how strange of a twist her life had taken. She had been working with Hellsing for thirty years now, fighting monsters, working to hide the truth of their existence from the world, training men in military maneuvers, attending round table meetings, and in general separating herself from the mundane existence she had known. If she were still human, still working with the police force, and someone had told her of all that was to come in the future she would have promptly laughed in their face. But now, as she climbed those steps wearing an utterly gorgeous and gothic gown, observing the room with red eyes, she understood that life was never constant. It was always shifting, changing, and altering what was perceived as normal. And her perception had quickly done a one-eighty the night Alucard had turned her.

"My god!" A voice called out over the crowd at the top of the stairs.

Radu attempted to keep walking but an approaching figure cut them off. A young man stood in front of them, he too wore an elegant three piece suit, and a scabbard hung from his side. Brown hair framed his face and accented his high cheekbones.

"Daniel," Radu greeted with a cheery smile, though Seras knew now that it was forced.

"I don't see you for a week and you show up with Seras Victoria on your arm?!" Daniel exclaimed with a laugh.

Seras tried to hide her stunned confusion, wondering if she had ever met the vampire before in her life, and was surprised when Daniel immediately turned to her and bowed.

"It is glorious to make your acquaintance, Draculina. How do you fare?" he asked, reaching for her hand and grasping it between his palms in sympathy. "It is always so hard for fledglings to outlive their sires, most don't make it, it's amazing to know that you pulled through. But then again, you were the king's, it is only to be expected."

Seras glanced to Radu for help but he seemed a bit preoccupied as his eyes were set on something else. She turned her gaze back to the waiting Daniel and smiled in the kindest way she could manage before bowing her head, "Thank you for your concern but I am doing quite well." She did not bother correcting him on the fact that she was no longer a fledgling as it hardly seemed to matter at the time. Additionally, she wasn't quite ready to put her cards on the table.

"Such an elegant little thing," Daniel cooed. "Good thing you have Radu at your side, I'm afraid someone would steal you away if he wasn't."

Seras forced a laugh and pulled her hand from his gently, "That's what I was afraid of," she admitted. She hadn't had to rely on small talk in years and to suddenly find herself thrown into a situation that required it was not as disorienting as she had feared it would be. She supposed she had her gender to thank for that.

Down by her side the wolf huffed in irritation.

"Have all the guests arrived?"

"Not yet," Flagler responded while he stood at one of the tower windows, his arms crossed, and a bemused expression on his face.

"It should be quite the interesting night, all the world is about to change, I do hope it's a good party," Cain drawled from his spot on the windowsill of the adjacent window. One foot rested on the sill and the other on the floor beneath him and his cloak trailed to the ground, displaying the red tunic and copious amounts of jewels he wore beneath it.

"I'm sure it will be," Flagler remarked blandly.

"So sure?" Cain turned his head to take in the young vampire in mock concern. His icy eyes blazed in the darkness and unsettled the vampire while they lingered on him.

"Of course," Flagler shot back with a shrug and a smirk. "Why wouldn't it?"

"Oh, you know," he trailed off.

Flagler turned back to look at the demon in puzzlement, his expression said he clearly did not know, and realized the demon was playing at something. Never a good sign considering he was a far more powerful being than him and had centuries worth of warped memories and knowledge at his disposal. Who knew what actions he would take when it came down to it. After all the planning they had done over the past several decades he could suddenly decide he was bored with their plotting and be done with him in the most horrendous way possible.

"You never know who might show up to these kinds of things," he finished with a smile, displaying his shark like teeth for the vampire to see before he pushed himself to his feet. His cloak trailed after him, dragging across the floor as he moved to join Flagler at the window. "Just in case, I prepared this for you," he said while lifting a small bundle of cloth. He passed it over to the vampire as he spoke. "Should any problems arise, use that, and I'm certain all will be taken care of."

"What do you know?" Flagler asked suspiciously, eyeing the bundle of innocent looking cloth before sliding into his coat pocket.

"Nothing," Cain answered with a shrug, "a least for sure anyways."

Integra sat at a table on the edge of the ballroom, she sipped on a glass of water while Andrews stood at her side patiently, the two had yet to join the fray of socializing. Guests were scattered about the room, all wearing glorious gowns and exquisite suits, chattering away into the night. They spoke of gossip, politics, and sports and Integra had to wonder why it was the Pope had invited her to such an event. Although, she was glad to see that she had not been the only one dragged to the dance, the Knights of the Round Table could be seen standing about and taking part in small talk. Their suits were decorated with metals and of a more esteemed quality than the majority present.

Several of them had greeted her already, complimented her beauty, and left her laughing from their behavior. All those years that she struggled to earn their respect as a woman, wore suits and cravats, smoked cigars, refused to back down, and when she suddenly put on a dress they were left flabbergasted and stumbled to praise her. Imagine that! And it wasn't as if she were a young thing anymore either. It left her feeling rather smug.

"It seems that more powerful individuals keep arriving, some, I might add, are prominent figures amongst the vampire hunting community," Andrews intoned from behind her.

Integra turned her eyes to the main entrance to the ballroom where an older man and his wife had entered. That was the King of Spain, she noted apathetically, and allowed her gaze to wander further into the room where she sighted several rougher looking characters in slapped together suits. They were one of the more famous American monster hunting groups she had researched before venturing across the pond as it were.

Throughout the half hazard clustering of guests several wait staff traversed with trays filled with beverages and finger foods. One broke out from a particular grouping and made his way over to Integra and offered her a glass of champagne. Integra took the offered drink with a smile and a thank you before returning to her observation.

"It seems suspicious," she muttered to Andrews.

"Indeed," the butler agreed with a smirk. "Perhaps Flagler is not the only one with something planned."

Integra paused and glanced back at Andrews in surprise, "You don't think . . .?" she trailed off and pushed herself to her feet.

Andrews seemed to realize what he just said and his expression darkened, "That he knows of Flagler and his plans? It certainly seems that way."

"Could he be in league with him?" Integra wondered out loud. "All of his possible enemies are right here, in this room, not a street away from him."

"I believe it is time for some serious questioning," Andrews stated. He turned his eyes to his employer and watched as her surprised expression lowered into a scowl and she clenched her fists.

"I believe you're right," she muttered.

The light and fanciful music that filled the brightly lit room suddenly did not match the mood. Integra stormed across the floor, heading for a particularly large clustering of people from which she could see the top of Pope Francis's hat.

Radu pulled Seras away from the excited Daniel, as he had begun to draw the attention of others around them, and down the hall that led to the dining room. He wore a grim expression as they walked and she worried they had been discovered without her even knowing. She wondered what kind of tortures they would be subjugated to. She could only imagine what a hungering crowd of vampires would do to entertain themselves. But then she realized she was overreacting. Not only that, but the wolf at her side was there for that specific reason: to wreak havoc and protect them if they were discovered.

She glanced down at Alucard, who was padding across the floor next to her, and she reached down to brush the scruff of his neck to reassure herself of his presence. The wolfish leer that met her gaze because of it only told her that all was well.

"What's wrong, Radu?" she asked curiously when they were relatively out of ear shot.

"Huh?" he looked at her in confusion before he actually registered what she had said. "Oh! Nothing, I'm just trying to avoid . . ." he trailed off and looked on ahead of them with an expression of resigned frustration. ". . . That," he finished lamely.

Seras turned to follow his line of a sight and tensed just as Radu had not moments ago. Ahead of them stood a woman of such beauty that she made Seras feel like little more than a frog (or an awkward teenager struggling through a particularly bad case of puberty). She was dressed in red silk that hugged her body and nearly pushed her breasts up to her chin. Brown hair was braided atop her head while a few stray strands framed her face artfully. Her skin was of the palest porcelain and bare of any blemishes, something that particularly irritated Seras as when she had been turned all of her past scars remained, and sparkled in the dim lighting.

Next to her Alucard scoffed, a harsh gagging sound coming from his wolfish vocal cords, and made as if to go after her but Seras moved ahead of him and crouched down in his path. The train of her dress had remained behind in her original position and now encircled the wolf while he growled. She rested her hands on her knees to steady herself in the crouch while wearing stilettos.

"Master, we're are not to attack anyone until Flagler makes a move, remember?" she reminded with a nervous smile.

The wolf glowered at her and she could imagine the terrifying expression he would be wearing had he been in his human form. She could even see the trembles of restrained fury that wracked his body. He moved to push past her and she threw out an arm to stop him, surprised by the amount of strength he had in such a small body, and nearly toppled over from the effort.

"I am sure Radu appreciates what you are trying to do," she added quickly to regain his attention. It wasn't the first time that she had wished he had not been forced to give her his blood, had they still had the bond they could have spoken to each other with none the wiser, but now she was forced to voice her thoughts to him in hushed whispers so as not to draw attention. "But I also feel that he believes that his fights are his own and he wishes to finish them himself. He probably wants to make you proud," she finished quickly, noticing that the beautiful woman had begun her approach.

"My, how sweet, speaking to your familiars is such an adorably innocent past time," the woman said as she drew near. She practically glided over the floor with deadly grace and leveled Seras with a sickly sweet smile that caused her to shiver in disgust. "It is just a wolf darkling, they don't understand speech," she finished just as she came to a stop in front of Radu.

Seras put forth her best smile and laughed, "I know, you are right, but I simply can't help myself. He is just so intelligent sometimes that I forget."

"Such a human view on the subject, how old are you my dear?" she oozed charm as she asked the question but she watched Radu from the corner of her eye.

"A woman never shares her age," Seras answered with a laugh. As the vampiress finally turned her attention to Radu, Seras looked away with a grimace and tightened her grip on the wolf in restrained anger. "I'm beginning to have second thoughts," she muttered darkly.

The wolf wheezed out a laugh.

"Radu, my dear little prince, where have you been?" she asked the younger of the two brothers.

"Elizabeth," he bowed slightly at the waist, "I was ordered to escort Lady Victoria tonight."

"Were you now?" she lifted her brows in mock surprise, despite her having been present when Flagler had ordered him to deliver the invitation, and turned her gaze back onto the Draculina. "It seems you've kidnapped my fledgling from me, I am sure you won't mind if I reclaim him, there are a few guests I'd like him to meet."

This trollop wants to parade him around like a show dog, Seras thought darkly. She met the eyes of the wolf in front of her, her hands still resting on his shoulders in her forgotten effort to restrain him, and something passed between them. She smiled at him before pushing herself back into a standing position and brushing off her gown which, she noted with triumph, was far more elegant and gothic than Lady Elizabeth's.

"I hardly would consider it kidnapping when the one supposedly being kidnapped is relieved upon being kidnapped," she shot back with a pleasant smile. She reached for Radu's arm and pulled him to her side. The man was watching the two women like his life depended on it but truthfully he feared more for the safety of Seras than himself. "Unfortunately I would mind if you took him as he is my escort and besides him I know virtually no one at this event and would not enjoy being left to wander on my own."

Something seemed to happen as her words grew heavier with warning. An aura seemed to sweep over the group, it drew the attention of surrounding guests, and caused Elizabeth to tense. There were promises of pain and torture in that cold air that seemed to settle over her like a straitjacket and it carried a distinctly dark presence within it. Images of a long dead figure appeared in her head, of his destructive powers, and the millions that he slaughtered. Dark laughter echoed in the back of her mind and she dropped her eyes away from the innocent stare of the draculina in front of her. Unfortunately that was all it took to destroy her reputation. Those who had turned their heads to watch the bit of drama saw her back down, a thing that held much more meaning for vampires than humans, as it meant that Elizabeth saw Seras as the dominant creature.

Elizabeth was no push over. She was a powerful vampire, capable of controlling the darkness to an extent that was almost unheard of. She was gluttonous in her thirst for blood and frivolous in how she used it. She had killed hundreds of thousands herself and used half of them to simply bathe in their blood, drank from the other two thirds, and the very few left behind she had turned. None of them survived for long. She was a cruel and mad creature that tortured them far past their breaking point. Radu had been the only one to outlive them all, but he had yet been able to free himself of her tyranny.

Just as quickly as her eyes lowered she lifted her gaze to Seras again and smiled pleasantly, "Of course," she agreed. "My apologies for my lack of manners," she said as she curtsied and turned away. It was easy to see her tense shoulders and frustration in her stride.

Radu let out a breath in an attempt to relieve the tension and turned to the wolfish figure of his brother, "Good thinking," he commended. Heaven only knows what would have happened had he not stepped in. Elizabeth Bathory was not a monster to be trifled with by any means.

The wolf chuckled and followed after the two as they continued walking down the hall. He hadn't done a thing.

Seras fell into a rather sour mood after that. The confrontation with Radu's mistress had set her on edge and opened a floodgate of righteous indignation on his behalf. She promised herself that when the shit hit the fan obliterating Elizabeth was one of their top priorities and she knew a certain Vampire King who would love to sink his fangs into her, Radu's pride be damned.

"Don't be so upset," Radu admonished lightly from her side and smiled kindly down at her.

He's an idiot, she thought, he was such a kindhearted fool that his own discomfort no longer mattered to him. She had no doubt that he had suffered much in his un-life but, and this was theorizing on her part, she was certain he had in his past life as well. Knowing Alucard from personal experience and what Radu had told her, he had worked to protect his younger brother against the harshness of reality to the best of his abilities. It would explain why he was still so protective of him now, even six hundred years since their last meeting, he still felt the need to shelter him. She suddenly understood his aversion to tears as well.

Rather than snap at him and urge him to see the reality of the situation she smiled in return, "You're right. We have a mission to complete."

"Not only that," Radu added, "But they're playing my favorite song."

Seras stared out him, dumbfounded, but listened to the classical music. She vaguely recognized the music as something she had legitimately heard in a Dracula movie as a young adult. The realization had her letting out a bark of laughter that had Radu grinning at her like a fool. Fingers danced across a piano while violins accompanied it followed by a light layering of percussion.

"What's it called?" Seras asked curiously.

"Toccata and Fugue," Radu answered with a pleasant sigh. "Shall we?" he offered his hand to her with a bow.

"I don't know how to dance," Seras admitted dryly, watching as vampires spun across the floor in the dining room as well. She quickly realized that it was only called such because it had been where the students took their meals but it was far from being average. Just like the rest of the building the ceiling was covered in murals and lights hung down to bathe the guests in soft light. The dining tables were absent from the floor and their spaces were occupied by performers and guests instead.

"That's fine, just go with the flow," Radu answered with a laugh.

"Go with the flow," Seras repeatedly sarcastically but none the less took his hand and followed him out into the center of the floor.

Alucard moved off to sit by a wall, irritated by the lack of excitement taking place, and bored with the two youngsters and their banter. He observed the crowd while his ears flicked back and forth, picking out conversations, listening in, before tuning in to the next one. He might as well eavesdrop and gather information while the two had their fun. He grunted.

At some point during their dance he was joined by the Frenchman. He leaned against the wall next to him, puffing on a cigarette, and watching the vampires with his one good eye. He slid to the floor and sat on the ornate tile with a sigh.

"This is quite a turn of events," he commented after a moment of silence between the two, "Never thought I'd get to attend a vampire party." He blew out a strand of smoke and pulled the cigarette from his lips, allowing it to dangle between two fingers, and rested his arms atop his knees. "It looks like the bloody flower is moving in on your territory," he observed bemusedly.

The wolf snorted and flicked an ear. He was too busy listening in on a conversation between two ladies pertaining to himself to pay attention to the rambling Frenchman. When he realized that they were still rather young little demonesses and were simply gossiping about whom he favored sharing his bed with in the past he lost interest. Idiots, he had not shared a bed with anyone in nearly a century. Hellsing had taken over his life and locked him away from the world unless he was needed to dispose of some monster. What did it matter anyways? He was supposedly dead. Wiped from the face of the Earth for all eternity. It seemed they had yet to relinquish their humanity if all they cared about was sex. Even Seras had matured past that stage, in fact, she didn't even gossip.

It seemed thirty years of destroying himself had made him a little less self-absorbed.

Pip watched him curiously before lifting the cigarette to his lips and examining the crowd around them. He dashed the brief longing for his men that slid through his mind, the need to know that he had his team to back him up in any situation, and let out a sigh. Things just weren't the same anymore. He was thankful that Seras was now a full-blooded vampire and thus allowed him to walk about on his own accord, eat food, drink alcohol, hell, he could probably get laid if he wanted to. But he missed the job. Missed running into a war with guns loaded and crazy smiles on their faces and the hopes of surviving long enough to spend their cash reward. Seras was amazing, he would not have asked her to drink his blood had he not be prepared for the outcome, and he would never go back on his decision, but he couldn't help but yearn for the past just as she did.

His eyes traveled over the groupings of vampires warily, taking their toothy smiles and undead grace, and cataloging every face that he saw. Oddly enough, the vampire in disguise at his side was doing the same. Alucard had noted the vampires he recognized and had organized their identities by who he wanted to feed off of and who he simply wanted to kill. There were no other options. By the end of night, if everything went to plan, he would wipe them all off the face of the planet.

The wolfish grin returned.

How lovely it would be to destroy every single vampire of power that had gathered at the party. Over half of the world's most frightening monsters were right there, trading polite small talk and snacking on the mesmerized students in their dorm rooms, and the most horrifying of them all was sitting in the corner wagging his tail excitedly.

"He's up to something," Seras muttered while she and Radu spun across the floor. She was lucky that he had taken the lead, as was tradition, because she would have been at a loss without him. As it was, it was easy enough to follow the simple movements and still hold a conversation.

"Who?" Radu asked curiously.

"Your brother," she deadpanned.

"I see," Radu turned his head to glance back at the wolf who looked for all the world like an overjoyed dog. Seras was throwing around the possessive words on top of it. It had become obvious that when she did not want to associate with Alucard he became 'His Brother' but any other day he was 'My Master'. Radu chuckled lightly and looked back to Seras. "I am sure he is just imagining how he is going to slaughter this lot."

"At least Pip will keep me updated," Seras added. She had asked him the watch over the vampire to make sure he didn't go off on his own and make trouble as she was sure he wanted to.

"Right," Radu changed the subject, "It's ten o'clock now so I imagine Flagler will be making his speech soon."

"I thought the bad guys always did the speech at the end of the party," Seras interrupted curiously.

Radu laughed, "It only seems that way because the good guys come in afterwards and ruin everything thus cutting the party short."

"Oh, I never thought of it like that," she admitted.

"Of course you haven't," Radu agreed with a laugh, "You've never been the bad guy."

Seras smiled at him, proud of his observation, and allowed her eyes to travel over the other people twirling around them. Vampires, she corrected herself, as their shoes made no sound on the tiled floor and they practically radiated the scent of blood. Every so often she caught one staring at them intensely and it made her nervous. She would look away after making eye contact and stare at Radu's handkerchief devotedly until they had passed. It shouldn't be all that strange that they were dancing together, Radu was her master's brother, and if Alucard had truly died wouldn't she take the chance to speak and console his brother? In all reality, it had more to do with her than Radu, as must vampires knew her career choice and were wondering if they should slaughter her on the spot or let her be. A few, however, remained leery of her true abilities and would not dare to make a move against her. Many had seen footage from the London attack, footage of her rampaging through the streets, and of her defeating a werewolf, and knew that she was far more sadistic and powerful than she let on.

Seras glanced over Radu's shoulder as they spun about and caught sight of Pip waving at her to grab her attention. He was standing at the entrance to the dining room and when she had spotted him he thumbed over his shoulder to the wolf that was stalking down the hallway determinedly, leaving the dancing monsters behind.

"Where's master going?" she wondered at loud.

"I don't know," Radu responded suspiciously.

The two paused in their dance but it was Seras who let go and hurried off after the two, picking up her skirts to run after them, and left Radu standing in the center of the dance floor awkwardly. He sighed, resigned, and followed with the hint of a smile.

Seras caught up to Pip and slowed her pace just as she stepped out into the hall, naturally she was not out of breath, but a wisp of hair had come loose and settled on the side of her face in her haste. Alucard trudged on ahead of them, growling at those who came near, and forcing others to move out of his direct path with little more than a nudge to their mind. If he had been a normal sized wolf he would not have drawn as much attention to himself while he lead the group of two vampires and their familiars down the hall, but he wasn't, his back was hip level to an average height man and it was intimidating. Never mind his glowing red eyes and black fur.

"What's he up to?" she asked Pip, throwing an imploring look over to him as they hurried after the wolf. She had yet to drop her skirts.

"I don't know," Pip shrugged and replaced the cigarette in his mouth. "One second he was wagging his tale like an adorable puppy and the next he's wandering off and ignoring me." He did not seem as worried as Seras did and simply followed in the wake of the monster casually observing the other vampires as they passed. Apparently, being dead gives you a rather blasé outlook on walking into a den full of monsters.

"Some help you are," Seras groused.

At some point Radu had caught up to them and was following behind with his hands in his pockets. He too appeared casual and even went so far as to smile at someone he knew as they passed. The vampire that he directed his grin at looked flabbergasted and stared at him in confusion.

The wolf exited the hall and stepped into the lighting of the foyer. Ahead of him was a small balcony between the twin set of stairs that led down into the first floor of the foyer. The others followed him towards it, moving around other vampires who were milling about, and stepped up to the railing just as someone from the third floor railing cleared his throat. The sound echoed against the domed ceiling and managed to catch the attention of all those present and Seras was certain even the vampires scattered about the college and dancing in the dining room were able to hear it. The image of a man standing before a microphone, clearing his throat and tapping at it, sending it ringing in everyone's ears and earning nervous laughter from him, flashed through her mind. But that was silly, Vampires didn't need microphones when they could just project their voice through every shadow as this one was doing.

Seras stood at the railing next to Alucard and Pip stood to her left. Radu had come up on the other side of his brother to look up at the familiar vampire who stood at the railing above and across from them, looking down at all his guests with a smile. Just like the rest of them he too wore a very old fashioned suit and black cape hung from his right shoulder, it was lined with purple silk, and spoke of egotistical importance. But then again, all the vampires were wearing similar clothing.

"I hope you are all enjoying yourselves," he drawled. His voice was not as deep as Alucard's but it was accented and demented all the same. It managed to send chills down Seras's spine.

The vampires around them chuckled darkly and an overwhelming aura of dark amusement seemed to swell within the college and overtook whatever blissful and casual emotions that had filled the building before Flagler had uttered a word.

Alucard had sat back on his haunches to listen.

"This is the night marking the beginning of a new era," Flagler exclaimed, lifting his arms to gesture to all of the creatures standing below him. "Tonight we will move forward and step out into the world as we never have before. No longer will we be myths and legends, stories the humans tell their children to frighten them into bed, no longer will we wander the night fearing for our lives." He placed his hands on the railing and leaned over as he spoke, his mad eyes gleaming with glee, and paused. He looked over all the upturned faces staring up at him with rapt attention, they yearned for a new leader, someone to pave the way to their new existence and he would give it to them. He dropped his gaze briefly in thought and pushed away from the banister and walked a few steps before speaking. "But let us not forget where we come from, let us not forget our heritage, our legacy, our king!"

His words, which had steadily grown louder and more intense as he spoke, echoed across the room. The vampires had fallen silent, pausing in their whispered conversations, and waited for him to continue with bated breath.

Pip glanced down at the wolf not a few feet away from him. This was a bit much for him. He had never been one for grand speeches and dramatics. He shot first and asked questions later and if for some reason he did speak during a job it was to crack some kind of joke to lighten the mood. Either way, he was surprised to see the thing staring up at Flagler with a cocked head and a grin. He was sitting on the floor so complacently that Pip could imagine he was simply waiting for a treat.

"He was a magnificent creature that struck fear into the hearts of men with just the mere mention of his name. He was ageless but ancient and within him we placed all our hopes and dreams, to lead us into the future, to pave the way for our kind," his voice grew quieter, more saddened, and forced his audience to lean forward with perked ears to listen. "But he was a selfish thing. He wanted something he could not have and in an effort to get it he was caught." His tone became lighter and he shrugged, once again pacing around the third floor banister. "Captured by a cruel man who tortured, experimented on, and beat him until he one day broke," he said, holding out his hands in helpless defeat. "And he left us to wander the night alone."

He once again returned to his original spot and set his hands on the railing, "Now, we are not a mindless species. We do not kill and destroy without thought. We do not wish to live without government." He paused once again, building anticipation within the crowd. "I propose that we reveal ourselves and take what is ours, what was always meant to be ours, and build our own world. Humans have thought themselves the top of the food chain for thousands of years and now - just because someone more powerful and dangerous than them appears – they believe that their position is threatened." He shook his head. "But we know better than that, don't we?" he asked with a smile. "They never had that position to begin with. They call us monsters just because we prey on them but tell me, what does the antelope call the lion? The seal the shark? When humans observe these dramas in the wild they don't call it an act of needless violence – they call it nature!"

Seras glanced down at Alucard who was wheezing out a wolfish chuckle while his fur stood on end. She would admit that the more Flagler spoke the more distressed she became. There had been some vain hope that they could somehow reason with these people, make them see their way, but it was not to be. She had come to the realization that they were at war not but a few days ago but along with that revelation she had also understood that the creatures they were now up against were not the simple trash that she had fought against for the past thirty years. They had far more intelligence and power at their disposal and she had hoped they would not be so blinded by ambition as to pit themselves against all of humanity.

"So why don't we do as nature demands and take our place at the top . . . as it should be. Follow me as we step out into the night and end this useless cycle of existing under a race inferior to us. We will openly claim our position as the top of the food chain and take what was always meant to be ours. No longer will we hide in the shroud of darkness. No longer shall we bow to a false alpha. The time to fully assert ourselves and reveal our dominance is now!" He grinned at the generous applause that greeted the end of his speech. Even the familiars cheered in their own animalistic ways and gnashed their teeth in excitement. There was an army of ghouls under the college at his command, a militia of vampires on his side, and nothing but sheep standing in their way. Blood would be spilled.

The applause lasted for several minutes. The amount of euphoric glee – the thirst for blood and domination – that exuded from the crowd was contagious and Flagler chuckled. But as the applause died down there was one lone set of hands that took up their own tempo. It echoed across the room much like Flager's voice had not minutes ago and was soon accompanied by a low chuckle.

"What a moving speech!"

The voice was deep and guttural with madness, it promised pain and torture, but it also spoke of restrained excitement.

The whole of the crowd fell silent as the owner of the voice was searched out. Hundreds of eyes scanned the crowd around them until they all landed on the small clustering of figures at the top of the second story stairs.

"The ability to inspire such a large number of creatures that thrive off of the past and the promise of eternity, to be able to urge them into change, is quite a commendable feat."

"You!" Flagler gripped the banister with such force that it groaned under his grasp and threatened to splinter. He stared down at the monstrous creature clad in red as he laughed at the stunned expression on his face and paled.

"Me?" he cocked his head, now adorned with a set of orange lensed glasses, and grinned like a madman. "Surely you didn't think I was actually dead?"

"How?" Flagler stammered.

The vampires had all fallen silent. They wore expressions of awe and fear while their undead king reclaimed his position as the dominant monster among them without having even lifted a finger. Well, besides to applaud the speech that addressed his supposed death anyways.

Alucard stepped up to the railing and rested his gloved hands atop it casually, his eyes never leaving the figure of Flagler, and laughed. "You have quite a grand dream hanging over your head," he drawled, eyeing the vampire from under his wide brimmed hat, "But that is all it was ever meant to be, I'm afraid, as to step up and conquer the world would be the end of our legacy."

"What legacy?" Flagler blustered, leaned back from the railing in confusion and rage. "The legacy of defeat by a weak creature such as man, to hide in the shadows while the world slowly rots and men waste away in front of their screens? There is no grandeur left here: no opulent wars, no honor in death, no secrets or darkness to discover. It has all been fought, killed, and seen by us and our inferior enemies. This world is dead. A new one must be created in its place."

"You will create a utopia of scientific exploration and revelation without a doubt," Alucard agreed solemnly for he saw the way the others bent to Flagler's words like the flowers to the sun, "But you will, one day, be thwarted by man once again."

Flagler laughed, "If we all revealed ourselves to create the society I have planned then there would be no stopping us. Man would not have a chance!" He glowered down at the no-life king in such defiant rage that it would have been intimidating had it not been for the obvious fear that could not be masked by it.

"Man's strength is not in their physical ability or length of existence, you fool," Alucard muttered. He had at first saw Flagler as a worthy opponent but as their conversation played out he soon realized his errors and flawed logic. The plans he boasted were desires, not well thought out schematics, they were nothing but wishful thinking. "It is in their will. A world ruled by tyranny will not stop them as they will fight against it until the end of time. You cannot simply destroy them all as they are the very things we thrive from. And if you were to simply enslave them, breed them to be nothing but mindless bags of rotting organs and blood, there would one day be a spark of hope. It would come from the simplest of actions, maybe someone slipped them an extra ration, or they glimpsed the sun for the first time, or heard a fragment of music drifting down to them in their cells . . . It would ignite something within them and you would never know peace again." Such an angry look of disgust and distaste overtook his previously gleeful expression, "I never made a move to conquer humanity because I found them to be worth so much more when you allow them to flourish."

"This is not some kind of game!" Flagler exclaimed.

"Isn't it?" Alucard questioned with a quirked brow. "You boast of a world full of new meaning but it would eventually be us that would waste away in front of our screens while the humans plotted to retake their world. You claim to want to break away from the cycle but that in itself is part of the cycle. No, the only real away to gain any of your so called "new meaning" would be to send the world back into the dark ages. To once again reap death and war and rebuild our legacies as the monsters that roam the edges of the map. Gnashing our teeth in the shadows while man hesitates to leave their homes in fear of us."

Flagler growled and the banister finally gave way under his grip. How dare this has been insult and degrade him in front of all of his followers. There was a moment in which the fragments of the banister hung suspended in the air by his own malignant aura, before he launched himself forward at his former king.

It happened so quickly that the majority of those gathered did not realize what had happened until Flagler was on top of Alucard, his fists locked together, and brought down over his head in such a vicious hit that it sent him rolling down the stairs. He landed at the bottom, bones crumpled and broken, some protruding from his flesh, but once again wearing a crazed grin as he stared up at his attacker reverently.

Seras, worried for Alucard and filled with her own righteous anger, moved to attack Flagler where he stood staring down at his fallen enemy. But it was Radu who held her back with just one hand to her shoulder and shook his head. She looked back at him, skirts held in hand, and scowled in confusion.

"I'm afraid this not just a simple fight," Radu explained quietly, "This is a battle with far more at stake than just their lives."

Flagler strolled down the steps, slowly making his way towards his now enemy, and chuckled. "Have you grown so weak that a single hit is all it takes?" He stopped on the last step and stared down at him scornfully. "Your time has passed old man, it's my turn now, and the world will change," he crouched down as he spoke and grinned. "Now accept it and die!" He lifted a hand and plunged it through his chest, feeling his ribs break way and his long dead heart squelch under the pressure. His innards were cold and bare of any spark of life, blood pooled out beneath him as Flagler's fingers touched the tile through his back, and he coughed.

Blood splattered across Flagler's face and he glowered.

"My king!" Someone cried out and a collective gasp could be heard.

Alucard laughed. He lifted his broken arms and they cracked and reformed, allowing him to push himself up, and Flagler's arm moved further into his chest. When he was sitting up fully and Flagler was up to his elbow in vampiric flesh he grinned, their noses inches from each other. "If only I could," he rasped gleefully and bit down on his neck without warning.

Flagler cried out, scrambling to push him off of him, and shoved at his head. But it was to no avail. While he flounder about Alucard regained his footing and stood, dragging Flagler with him, before grasping him by his neck and holding him suspended over the floor. He unlatched his jaws from his throat after taking several mouthfuls and lifted him higher, subsequently pulling his arm from his chest, before flinging him across the room.

The form of Flagler hit the floor and bounced before coming to a stop just feet from the ring of vampires surrounding them. He groaned and rolled over, struggling to push himself to his feet, while Alucard laughed and once again applauded his antics.

"You taste horrible," he observed in amusement.

"You monster," Flagler spat. Blood continued to dribble from his throat, it was still fresh and warm from his last victim, and splattered onto the tile while he glared.

Alucard scowled and snorted. He walked up to him and gripped his throat again, ignored the spluttering insults thrown his way as he did so, and lifted him above his head. "This is who you chose to follow in my absence?" he exclaimed, speaking to the vampires lining the room that watched on in horror or hope. "A piece of trash with nothing but petty wishes and desires? He doesn't want to lead this world into a new era! He just wants to feel wanted!" He laughed. "You all doubt me so, truly, do you still wish to pine after this useless bag of undead flesh not even fit for the vultures?"

Alucard turned his gaze onto the creatures around him, eyes shining out from behind his glasses, and watched with pleasure as they bowed their heads in shame and some even fell to their knees. He was so enamored by the emotions portrayed in that moment, the satisfaction of his victims defeat, that he did not even bother to look when he felt Flagler shift. From the corner of his eye he watched as an off white cloth fluttered to the ground uselessly and turned his gaze onto his enemy just as he drove a blade through his heart.

There was a moment of stunned silence. Alucard lifted a brow in bemusement. Flagler smirked. And the world went black.

"Master!" Seras shouted from the top of the stairs. She had thrown off Radu's hand and ran forward just as Alucard crumpled to the ground in a heap of red clothe and pale flesh. Flagler tumbled to the ground next to him and dragged himself away from the monster, wheezing against his strained vocal cords, and pushed himself to his feet. He turned back and stared down with wide eyes at the now still figure.

"Ha!" he laughed after a minute of inactivity. "Not even the great Undead King can stop me! Now follow me into the night so that we may take what is rightfully ours!" He exclaimed with raised arms. He spun about, taking in the horrified faces around him while he chuckled.

"Yes, yes, you did a superb job at removing one obstacle."

The new voice was just as deep if not deeper than Alucard's and spoke in such a bored tone that it instantly calmed the other vampires in the room.

All eyes turned to the top of the stairs where a new figure stood. He too had dark hair but it fell well passed his shoulders and hung about his face in shining waves. His eyes, unlike the rest of the attendees, were blue as ice and just as cold.

Seras turned to the figure behind her and stepped down one stair, feeling the heavy aura of death that radiated from him, and watched on in fear as he moved forward. He gave her a curious smile as he passed that left her skin crawling and awakened distant horrors she had dreamed of not so long ago. Her hand trembled on the banister.

"Thank you, Flalger," Cain continued as he descended the steps and stopped on the tiled floor. "It was an excellent show."

"Of course, sir," Flagler stuttered. He dropped his eyes to the floor and stepped back as the demon approached the fallen figure of Alucard.

Cain eyed the corpse and pulled a foot back before kicking him in the chest and rolling him onto his back with the force. The sightless eyes of Alucard stared up at the ceiling. His glasses had broken in the fall and were now shattered, the pieces splayed across his cheeks and on the floor beside him. Not even his smile remained.

"Our plans can finally move forward," Flagler said with a nervous smirk.

Cain did not take his eyes from the fallen figure of his only enemy but he hummed and lifted a hand. "Our plans?" he questioned lightly. Across from him Flagler had fallen silent, unable to move under the power of the demon, and watched on in terror as he finally turned his cold stare onto him. "Somewhere along the way you seemed to have forgotten who was in charge here," he continued. He smirked and stepped over the body at his feet, his cloak trailing over it as he passed and knocking the already bent glasses askew. "You were just the face of this operation and now that the mask has been shattered I no longer require your services." He lifted his hand back, stretched taut in a mimic of the same move Flagler had used on Alucard not minutes before, but when he thrust it forward his hand pierced his skull and splattered brain matter across the floor in its wake.

The audience watched on as Flagler's body slid to the floor before disappearing into a pile of ash.

"Now then," Cain announced, shaking the gore from his hand as one would dish water, and eyed the bodies at his feet thoughtfully. "Those that wish to build our utopia will join me in the destruction of all that man holds dear, and those that don't . . ." he trailed off absently before finishing, "well, I don't really care what you do." He wiped his hand with the edge of his cloak, the dark fabric seemingly absorbing the stick substance, and lifted his cold eyes to the room around him. "An era of darkness awaits. Call forth all of your demons and shadows. All the monsters you have locked away. Humans have lived far too long in peace."

And just like that he was gone and a horde of bats took flight and rushed for every window and door within the building to follow after him. Vampires rushed to do as he bid, craving the dark world he promised, and scattered to the edges of the Earth to collect all their monsters and offer them up to the one true ruler of evil.

The vampires that were left, despairingly few in comparison to the numbers before, had yet to move from their positions around the room. Bats and ravens alike flew past them, their hair stirred by the window, but their eyes never left the crumpled form of their king. Returned and once more lost to them in what felt like a single moment. Their cold dead hearts sank like stones in their lifeless chests.

"Master!" Seras cried out again and flew down the stairs in a hurry. She nearly tripped on the last one and stumbled ahead before falling to her knees next to Alucard's body. He had not turn to ash, which left her feeling hopeful, but then again, would he perish in the same manner as all vampires before him had? He was of a level of his own and so her only comfort was fleeting in its existence.

Radu and Pip had hurried after her but they came to a stop just behind her.

She reached out a trembling hand and placed it on his chest, staring at the dagger that had been used to wound him so, and distressed over what action to take. The dagger was of obsidian, the hilt nothing but a smoothed portion of the jagged glass, with red ruins etched into the surface. It seemed to glow with a malignant aura all of its own. No movement came from him and the sight of him staring up at the ceiling with no emotion sickened her to such an extent that she could not take it. She grasped the hilt of the dagger and ripped it from his chest, throwing it across the floor where it clattered uselessly, and waited for some kind of response from him.

Suddenly, his chest heaved, pulling in a great lungful of air and she let out a sigh of relief. "He's breathing," she exclaimed, bending over to look at his face.

"He's breathing?" Radu questioned in disbelief. He and Pip shared a surprised glance before they moved forward to get a better look.

"Yes!" she answered excitedly and leaned over to get a glimpse of his face as it contorted in pain.

Alucard coughed and rolled over, vomiting up every ounce of previously drunken blood with such force that Radu reached forward to steady his shoulder in fear. His glasses fell from his face and landed within the puddle of expelled blood before his body was overtaken by his shadows and lost from sight for a moment. When the darkness receded he was no longer clad in his red coat and hat but a simple pair of torn black slacks and a grimy white shirt. His hair, usually short, fell about his face and shoulders in a straggly mess of inky locks. He had stopped heaving but now his body trembled and he strained to push himself into a sitting position.

"Vlad!" Radu exclaimed, helping his brother to sit up, and felt immense terror when even that seemed like such a struggle to him.

"Radu," he muttered and leaned against him, his head falling onto his shoulder. He had not the strength to hold himself up and Radu was forced to support him.

Seras leaned forward and pulled his hair back to look at his face, "Master?" she called shakily and froze. "Master, you look . . ." she trailed off, not having words to describe the way his skin had taken on a tanned and olive tone. But it was his eyes that made her blanch. They were a deep azure, vacant and dazed, but so blue that she had to do a double take. Throughout her examination his chest continued to constrict and expand while lungs, having not needed air for so long, thirsted for the enriching oxygen like a dying man in a desert. She gasped as the realization hit her, ". . .alive."

"Astute observation," he muttered dully, wincing against a wave of pain that wracked his body.

"I don't understand," Radu cried in a panic. "How could this happen?" His brother suddenly felt so weak and frail in his arms and so . . . warm. He could feel a heartbeat, weakly pumping what little blood he had left in his veins through his once dead body, but a heartbeat nonetheless.

"That blade," Alucard breathed, looking at the object from the corner of his eyes where it rested innocently on the ground. "And that demon," he added with a weak chuckle that left him coughing.

The vampires had drawn closer to get a look at their fallen king but their presence went unnoticed by the three clustered closest around him. They hid him from view and all the vampires could see of him were his boots and the back of his head.

"Master, what should we do?" Seras asked quietly in worry.

Alucard's face had taken on a rather slack and vacant expression. He felt every bruise and wound that had not had an opportunity to heal before his transformation. The gaping hole in his chest had closed to the point that it was not fatal but it still wept blood onto his white shirt. He felt the cold tile beneath him, the warmth of the air around him, and the way it bristled against his unused lungs. His stomach was twisting and knotting against the bits of blood still left within it and it threatened to surge forth against his will. He was feverish and paper thin and it was all wrong. His throat was parched but it was not warm blood that he craved to slacken it but cool water. He could no longer hear the voices of the souls in his mind. He could smell nothing past his own blood and he could see nothing but what was directly in front of him. He was so utterly cut off from all that he knew that his mind could not comprehend it.

"We need to get him back to the hotel," Pip voiced from next to Seras. It seemed he was the only one with a cool head on his shoulders. The only one who had dealt with a wounded soldier on the battlefield. He would have to take charge otherwise the bloody pansies would sit around wondering what to do all night while the bastard demon did god knows what. "We need to regroup," he added when he saw that the two had yet to register what he said.

"Right," Radu nodded.

He and Seras lifted Alucard between them, one arm over each of their shoulders. His hair fell forward to cover his face. Radu summoned up his own shadows and shifted under his brother's weight before leading them into the darkness.

The remaining vampires watched in stunned awe before turning to face each other demurely. They did not know what actions to take or what it was that was about to happen. But the sound of distant gates opening and the pounding of hundreds of feet on stone told them that the city of St. Augustine was about to be burried under a mountain of shambling corpses and rotted flesh.


End file.
